


Before the Afterwards

by Akuto



Series: Stuff Tangentially Related to The Interference [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: I literally wrote this a decade ago please keep that in mind, Self-Insert, like I have ZERO intention of editing this now, posting for archival purposes but you can read it I guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 23:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 42,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10886802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akuto/pseuds/Akuto
Summary: Want to read a decades-old fanfiction of a fanfiction? Want to see self-inserts ad-lib their own lines into what basically amounts to the pure gamescript of Kingdom Hearts, with little to no change to the actual story whatsoever? Want to listen to the author, years later, snarkily trash his own creation? Then wow, please go do something better with your time. Take care of yourself.





	1. Lazy Afternoons

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Interference](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/289935) by Newbiespud. 



A girl of twelve slept late that summer morning in the second floor bedroom of an apartment complex. Strands of long dirty-blonde curly hair stuck over the edges of the covers, which were three thick blankets in total despite the heat. She was unusually tall and had blue eyes that she hated. Well, to be fair, she hated most things about her looks. This was Angelina Castellano, called simply Angel by almost everyone but calling herself Angelina in her head.

The alarm sounded. Knowing it would only get louder she reached up a lazy hand and, instead of hitting to snooze button, flipped down the off switch. Angelina would have slept even more in spite of the unusual amount of sunlight coming in, but a loud sound interrupted that. “Hmm? A train?”

Always the quick raiser (once risen) she tied her hair back and walked over to the windows. Once there, Angelina had to stand on her toes to look out because an idiotic designer made the small windows so high up that even her tallness was having trouble. What was this, a jail? But that thought left her head soon enough when she saw what was outside; instead of the pine tree that normally blocked her view, were the sunlight-flooded backstreets of a town much smaller then that of Portland.

Never one to panic, Angelina stood still as thoughts and theorems chased their own tails. _Then_ she shouted, “Mom! Dad! I was right, there are other worlds!”

When no one responded, she went to their room. No one. Her little brother, David’s, room. No one. Living room, too. The cats were also gone. Heck, even the _fish_ were gone. Wondering what else was missing, she checked the whole house. The games and game consoles had disappeared, along with her extensive manga collection. This last news depressed her the most.

But enough moping, it was time to find out what kind of world she was in. And what better way then to do it without the family interfering? Angelina quickly changed into a plain white t-shirt, back pants, and blue jacket. Discovering some strange currency on her desk, she placed it in her pocket which, to her surprise, almost took her entire arm with it. “Wow, it just goes on forever!”

Not wanting to test them farther, in cased they swallowed her entirely, Angelina went out the front door. Now it was time to see just what kind of world she had ended up in. The street she was on was unusually wide and curved down a slope. She was surrounded by tall buildings. It wasn’t a major city, but it wasn’t the middle of nowhere, either. This cheered her up, she hated small places. Still, something was familiar…

She traveled down hill to find herself in a big open area with some shops and trams running through it. Angelina noticed something out of place; somewhere along the outer edge there was an apartment complex that didn’t fit the architecture of the surrounding buildings. Perhaps she wasn’t as alone in this as she thought. Leaving that in the back of her mind, she went up to the owner of the large shop in the middle of the plaza. Preparing to do some detective work, she almost forgot to pay attention to the man as he greeted her. “Hello, is there something I can do for you?”

“Wha? Oh! No thanks, I just wanted to ask some questions…” Angelina was getting embarrassed, would he think she was an idiot now?

He studied her face, as though he were trying to place where he had seen her before. “Hey, aren’t you the girl who just moved into that apartment up the street?”

Moved in? That was convenient, too convenient… “Um, yes, I am.”

“Great, this town hasn’t had any new faces for a while now. Well, there was that boy who moved into that apartment over there yesterday,” he nodded to the complex she had noticed earlier. “But he hasn’t shown his face yet. Anyway, welcome to Twilight Town!”

“Thanks!” The name rang a bell. More like a gong, really. And it seemed there really was another person here. Judging by most book and game plots, she would meet him very soon.

“So there was something you wanted to ask me?”

“Uh, yeah. Can you direct me to anyone my age?”

The store owner thought for a moment. “Yeah, just head down that back alley and you’ll see a rag covering a hole in the wall. They’re a little older than you, to be honest, but they’re good kids. Anyway, that’s usually where they hang out.”

“Thank you! I think I’ll head that way…” Angelina said somewhat vaguely as she went in that direction.

“Don’t mention it, just buy something next time.”

“Sure thing!”

As she wandered to the alley she suddenly got very nervous. Never the extrovert, Angelina made it her goal to have few friends as possible. But she would have to make some if she wanted to survive…whatever was coming. The kids or teens of any adventuring universe always seemed to have an idea of what was going on, so hanging around them would almost always guarantee an adventure.

Angelina spotted the ragged cloth that hung in front of a gaping hole and stopped. Now it was car alarms ringing. Something was _very_ familiar about all of this. She waited and listened, there were voices coming from behind the curtain.

“Man, doesn't that tick you off?” a young man’s voice sounded.

“Yeah, that's just wrong,” said someone else, more calmly.

“Seifer's gone too far this time,” said a girl.

As they paused Angelina leaned against the back wall. No mistaking it, she definitely knew this world. She could name it right now, but that may cause some confusion. For now, she would wait for the appropriate time to interrupt.

There was the sound of someone jumping to the floor. “I mean, it's true that stuff's been stolen around town. And we've got a score to settle with Seifer and everything. So if he wants to think we did it, I can't really blame him. See...that's not what really bugs me. What really bugs me is that he's goin' around tellin' everybody we're the thieves! Now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto Club! Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life? 'Cause I haven't. Nuh-uh, never,” the first boy she knew as Hayner ranted. “Now...what to do...”

A new voice spoke, making Angelina’s heart leap into her throat. The one person any fan wished they could meet. Roxas. “Uh...well... We could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight.” He sounded a little unsure of himself, as if he hadn’t been listening.

“Hey that sounds fun!” said Pence, the second voice.

“What about Seifer?” asked Hayner, like he thought Seifer was the number one suspect for everything.

There was the noise of Roxas standing up. “First, we gotta clear our names. Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs.”

As Hayner growled, Angelina subconsciously took this opportunity to make her entrance. She never liked intruding, whether it be in conversation or someone’s room, but in an adventure you couldn’t afford to think like that. Angelina pulled the red curtain partway opened and knocked on the side of the wall. “E-excuse me?”

The entire group, Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette, were revealed. Hayner rounded on her. “Hey! What are you doing here, we’re in a meeting!” The other three sighed and looked like they’d seen this all before.

“Sorry! I was just wondering what was back here…” she mumbled, thinking that her excuse sounded stupid.

“Well, now you know!”

“You’re the new kid that just moved here, right?” interjected Olette before Hayner could strangle her.

“She must’ve just been looking around,” Pence said as he tried to reassure Hayner.

Angelina nodded, grateful for the save. “Yeah, I’m kind of new around here. I’m Angelina.”

Hayner seemed to calm down, for he introduced himself. “Sorry about earlier, with what’s going on lately I’ve been thinking there are some spies around… Anyways, my name’s Hayner. I’m more or less the leader of this group.”

The trio sighed again. Then introductions went on. “Nice to meet you, I’m Olette.”

“I’m Pence.”

“And I’m Roxas.”

She sincerely wanted to say, ‘yes, I know who you are’ but chose not to. “Sorry again about eavesdropping. What were you guys talking about before I came in?”

Hayner’s scowl returned in an instant. “Seifer’s gang has been spreading the rumor that _we_ of all people have been stealing stuff from around town!!”

“We have this rivalry with them, especially Hayner,” said Roxas as a way of explanation.

Angelina may not have known the whole thing, but at least she knew _this_ part of the storyline by heart. “So what’s being stolen?”

“Well-”

“Oh no! They're gone!” Everyone turned to see Pence holding up a camera. “Our ---- are gone!” He put a hand up to his throat, surprised that he had been censored. “What?”

Somehow understanding, Hayner tried. “All our ------, gone? Huh?”

Angelina tried saying it a few times, even different variations. “Heck, they even stole the word!”

Olette was looking confused. “Huh? You can't say -------? Why not?”

“But you do understand what I'm saying, right?” asked Pence. “Our ------ are gone!”

Roxas was deep in thought. “Stolen... And not just the ------. The word ------! They stole it too!”

“Hey, I said that!” said Angelina, a little offended.

“He’s been distracted lately,” Olette excused her friend.

“What kinda thief is that?” Hayner continued. “Seifer could never have pulled that off.”

“Yeah!” Roxas agreed, finally getting into it. It was like he was trying to take his mind off of something.

“All right, time for some recon! We can show you around while we’re at it, Angel,” he added, looking at her.

“That’s alright, I’ll see it all eventually.”

Hayner, Pence, and Olette rushed out the room, leaving Angelina and Roxas to catch up. They were just about to leave when Roxas paused. He collapsed, leaving Angelina to panic. He was out cold. “Roxas! Hey, you okay?” She thought she heard the whisper of an unrecognizable voice and became a little dizzy.

Roxas soon regained consciousness. “Huh! What was that about?”

Olette returned, noticing that they were taking too long. “Guys, come on!”

And thus, the two had no more time to dwell on that. They followed her towards the Tram Common, the others waiting for them in front of the armor shop. Hayner called out, “Over here!”

They walked the last few yards to see that the boys had already started interviewing the shopkeeper. “Let's get this investigation underway,” said Pence, with a hint of excitement.

“Yo, Roxas. Never thought you'd do such a rotten thing...” said the shopkeeper disappointingly.

Roxas defended himself. “We didn't steal anything, all right?”

“I'd like to believe you, but...who else would steal that stuff?”

This just confused him. After all, how could the instances relate to Roxas personally? “What stuff?”

The shopkeeper looked like he thought Roxas was just playing dumb. “As if you didn't know. Hey, I'm not gonna tell you. Go ask at the accessory shop.”

“Geez, if you’re not gonna tell us why direct us someplace else?” Angelina muttered as they left.

They approached the woman at the accessory shop counter. Hayner nudged Roxas. “Go on, Roxas, ask her.”

The owner noticed him come up. She seemed to be less angry then the last guy. “Oh, it's you, Roxas... Please don't let me down. You used to be one of my favorite customers.”

“Used to be?” said Angelina, getting mad. “You people have no faith in him…”

“I'm not a thief!”

“Okay...” said the owner, though it was easy to tell she didn’t believe him.

He sighed. “It's no fun having everyone suspecting me, ya know.”

The woman seemed to gain some confidence in him from that. “Then you've got to find a way to clear your name. The woman at the candy shop is pretty disappointed, too.”

The gang headed towards the candy shop and met another woman. She seemed to be looking for something. “Roxas? Have you seen my cat around?”

Roxas looked around. “Er...” He spotted it on the awning above them. He grabbed the cat and handed it over to the woman.

“Thank you, Roxas.”

“Did they steal something from you, too?”

A sad look crossed her face. “Oh, my, yes. Something important.”

“Just so you know, we didn't do it,” Roxas said defensively before she could start.

She smiled. “I believe you.”

He sighed again, relieved this time. “Thanks for that, ma'am. So what did they take from you?”

“My ------. My precious ------.” It seemed the censorship didn’t just apply to them.

They parted ways, leaving just the five of them. Hayner was summarizing the clues. “Looks like the culprit is going around stealing ------. And not just ------, but the word ------, too.”

“This isn't your average thief...” concluded Pence.

Angelina nodded. “More like a super-thief, like Dark or Jing.” Everyone stared at her, not getting the reference. “Um, I just read a lot, don’t mind me.”

“I wonder if Seifer would know anything about this,” continued Olette.

Roxas, who was still concerned about people not believing him, said, “We gotta talk to him. C'mon, to the sandlot!”

The Sandlot was very close to the gangs’ Usual Spot and Angelina was surprised that she had unknowingly passed it by completely. There she spotted three teens in the distance, Rai, Fuu, and Vivi. They seemed to be having a conversation until Vivi, the small boy in the blue robes and wide-brimmed crooked wizard hat that hid his face, tugged on Rai’s shirt and pointed them out.

Fuu observed them coldly. “Thieves.”

“That was low, y'know!” yelled Rai more directly.

Vivi shook his hat’d head, as though he were disappointed in them.

“Oh yeah?” said Hayner, challengingly.

Angelina crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Low? That was you’re best shot? Then again, you don’t exactly seem to be the sharpest…”

“Want to say that to my face, y’know?!”

“Nice comeback there, blondie,” came a new voice.

Seifer stepped in, causing Hayner to spike up. He and Angelina were confused as to who he was referring to, so he shouted “What'd you say!?” as she objected “Are you blind?! I ain’t blonde!”

Seifer ignored both of them. “You can give us back the ------ now.”

“Yeah! You're the only ones who would take it, y'know?” Fifty bucks if you can guess who said that…

“That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers. So what did you do? Burn it? Ha, not that we need some ------ to prove that you're losers.”

“Replay!” said Fuu simply.

Seifer laughed somewhat darkly to himself. Not ‘evil villain’ darkly, but dark enough. “Now you're talking!” Seifer’s gang get into fighting stances, as does Hayner. Angelina, having never been in a real fight, went to the back, unsure what to do. “I guess if you get on your knees and beg, _maybe_ I'll let it slide.”

Roxas took a step forward and the rival gang laughed mockingly at him. Then he did something that surprised everyone, he got down to one knee and bowed. Hayner was in the most shock. “Roxas!”

Angelina echoed the cry, a rage burning up in her. “Roxas!! I may not be able to fight, but I know you’re better than this! Now stand and fight!”

If he heard her, he gave no sign. It looked like Roxas had noticed something and was making a decision. Quick as a flash he dove a grabbed a weapon, a Struggle club, to be exact. One built for attack. Taking a stance, Roxas challenged Seifer.

“Roxas, focus!” shouted Pence from the background.

Seifer sneered. “Kneel, loser!”

The duel began. Roxas mainly ducked and dodged, aiming a few careful hits. “Come on...” Seifer growled, “quit playin' around and fight!”

Raising to the challenge, Roxas took more chances and fought fiercely. Though he also took a few hits, he ended up knocking Seifer back. Before he could strike the final blow, Rai and Fuu got in-between them. “Seifer's not feelin' so hot, y'know!”

“Tournament decides,” said Fuu, as though that explained it perfectly.

Pence snaps a picture of Roxas and gives him a thumbs up. As he does so, a tall white figure flies between them and snatches the camera mid-flight. Having completely forgotten it was coming, Angelina jumped back a few feet in surprise. “Holy-!”

“What was that?” asked Hayner.

“The thief!” concluded Olette, obviously having not seen the same creature that Roxas and Angelina had.

They all, Seifer’s gang excluded, ran towards the Common. Hayner, Pence and Olette looked around. Angelina and Roxas were able to keep track and saw that the creature went through a hole in the wall that lead to the forest. “Come on, if we don’t hurry we’ll lose it!”

“But what about-?” started Roxas.

“No time!”

They traversed the forest, the creature Angelina knew as a Nobody weaving through the trees teasingly, waiting for them to catch up. The duo came out of the forest to an old mansion, where the Nobody floated patiently. Words penetrated their thoughts, the first directed to Roxas. _We have come for you, my liege._

“Huh?”

The Nobody then ‘looked’ at Angelina. _Do not interfere, if you know what’s good for you. We have enough trouble with one._

“What? One _what_?!” One captive, like Roxas? Or one…interference?

The zipper mouth of the Nobody opened up, disturbingly, and flung itself at Roxas. Angelina stood back as he proceeded to strike repeatedly with his Struggle club. However, this was no more effective then smacking a wall. “It's no use...”

Suddenly, binary code flashed around his weapon. “What?” There was a flash, and when it dissipated he was holding the Keyblade. Of course, Roxas didn’t know that. “What...what is this thing?”

“Oi! Focus!” Angelina tried, helpfully.

He turned just as the Nobody attacked again. Roxas swung the Keyblade and it made solid contact. With something he could work with, the victory came quickly. Once defeated, the Nobody exploded into the stolen pictures. The Keyblade disappeared again, taking the Struggle club with it.

Roxas picked them up, looking extremely confused. “What was _that_ all about?!”

“You expect me to know?” asked Angelina, even though she did.

“Um, no, I just thought it had to be asked… You seem very calm about all this…” he continued suspiciously.

She shrugged. “I’m a calm person, even when I don’t want to be. I didn’t even freak out when faced with fire. But…” She smirked. “That weapon was so cool! How’d you do that?!”

“I wish I knew!”

“Well, can you do it again?”

“I’m not sure…” He picked up a nearby stick and swung it experimentally. “No, I don’t think so…”

Angelina smiled and shrugged again. “We’ll figure it out. We’d better go now, the others will wonder where we went.”

Roxas nodded, reluctantly. “Yeah, you’re right.”

It didn’t take long to get back to the Usual Spot, where everyone was waiting. Soon they were examining the pictures Roxas had brought back. “What's this?”

“I was his first customer after he took over the shop. So we took a picture together,” Roxas explained.

“It's a really nice photo,” Olette commented. “Oh!”

Pence looked at her. “Hey! You just said "photo"!”

“So, Roxas…tell us about the picture thief,” Hayner inquired.

Roxas shrugged. “Not much to say. The pictures were just lying there.” He and Angelina had decided not to tell them about the Nobody or the event with the Keyblade.

“Then how do we prove we weren't the ones who took 'em?” He looked at the next picture and snickered. “It's a girl...”

“You look happy, Roxas,” Olette teased.

“Do not,” he objected.

Pence was in thought. “So, like, anybody else notice that all the stolen pictures are of Roxas?”

“Ohh. So that's why everyone thought it was us,” Olette concluded.

“You mean Seifer didn't go around accusing us after all?” asked Hayner, a little disappointed. He had wanted a good excuse to go beat him up.

“Are they really all of me?” Roxas looked somewhat embarrassed about that.

“Yep.” Pence shows him a group of pictures. “See?”

“Look!” Olette was going through all of them, finding Roxas in each one.

“Right? Every single one. Wouldn't it be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas or something?”

Angelina laughed. “Looks like Roxas has a fangirl!” Though, she couldn’t imagine the Nobody as a fangirl to _anything_.

“C'mon, get serious,” scoffed Hayner. “Why would anyone wanna steal a bonehead like Roxas?”

Roxas looked offended. “Oh, thanks!”

This objection only brought up a round of laughter. A few hours later, various members of the group had to go somewhere, leaving Roxas and Angelina left. He was about to leave as well when he suddenly looked around in confusion. “Who’s there?”

Angelina couldn’t hear anything. After all, it wasn’t her memory. But as Roxas collapsed again and faded out her vision was blocked by static, like from a T.V. screen. A voice sounded, rather then the street noise. _Restoration at 12%._

Images flash, but too fast to make any sense of them. Finally, her vision went black.


	2. Working Together (Part 1)

According to the clock it was five a.m. when Angelina woke up the next morning. However, it was hard to tell the time by looking outside, for during the waking hours the sky always looked like it was just before sunrise or just after sunset. Hence the name, Twilight Town. Anyway, she had just been too excited to sleep any longer.

From what she had seen yesterday, Angelina had gathered these facts. First, she had somehow landed herself in the parallel universe of Kingdom Hearts II. The game, not the manga. Second, she was in the fake Twilight Town, judging by the presence of Roxas and the glitches in the ‘Matrix’. Third, and finally, it seemed that she wasn’t alone.

Pulling on her clothes quickly, skipping breakfast, Angelina headed towards the Usual Spot. She opened the curtains and discovered that no one was here this early in the morning. It would be weird to be the first one there after only knowing them for a day, so she decided to do something else with her time. It was time to play detective again.

Angelina was almost at the mystery apartment when she remembered that she didn’t know which one the other ‘visitor’ was in. She stopped by the shop for the second time. “Excuse me.”

The shop owner was up surprisingly early, but the sign did say that they would be open at this time. He smiled at her. “Well hello again! Did you find your way around yesterday?”

She nodded. “Yes, thank you. About the new boy you mentioned yesterday, you wouldn’t happen to know which apartment he lived in, would you?” Catching his suspicion, Angelina added, “I just want to talk to him, it’s not like I’m gonna steal his stuff.”

He seemed to believe her, for he said, “See that stairway on the right, down the center there?” She nodded affirmatively. “I think his place is at the top. Still haven’t seen him, though…”

Angelina thanked him again and, fulfilling yesterday’s promise, she bought an Elixir. Then she went to the complex, treading carefully on the stairs so as not to make a sound. Her heart was beating hard and fast, sure that whoever was inside would hear it. At the top was the door, with the doorbell in reach. Calming her nerves, she pressed the large button before she could change her mind.

No one answered. She tried again, still nothing. The old Angelina would have just walked away right there, but she had to know if there was anyone else like her. Gathering up her courage, she opened the unlocked door and called inside. “Hello? Anyone here?”

The place was completely deserted, but messy. Someone definitely _had_ been living here, looked like a whole family, but if anyone was still here she had to find out. Careful not to step on any stray items, Angelina stepped in to look around.

The apartment consisted of two bedrooms and a living room that connected to a kitchen. The bedrooms were unoccupied, one belonging to a girl and the other to a boy. There was no sign of food having been prepared in the last few days, so unless he had been eating out (doubtful) the mystery boy was not living here.

But what did this mean? If he was living in the real Twilight Town then this place wouldn’t exist, would it? Unless, of course, the system was trying to be as accurate as possible and therefore had copied the complex without the people inside them.

It was then that she noticed more. There was a large cage, for a rabbit or something of the like, that was empty. Just like her missing pets. Also, there was a space under the T.V. were there had obviously been a gaming consol of some sort. But why take away the games? Was it to keep them from playing KH II and memorizing the game or to keep them from going into yet another game?

With these questions buzzing, Angelina exited and wandered towards the Usual Spot. When she entered she saw that it was only Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Roxas had yet to arrive. They paused mid chatter to greet her and Hayner tossed her some ice-cream. She grinned. “Yes! Sea-salt ice-cream!”

“You’ve had it before?” asked Pence.

“Nope! I’ve just always wanted to try it.” She took a tentative lick. “Just as I thought! It’s good!”

Just as she sat down Roxas entered the room, looking particularly distracted. He too received some ice-cream upon entry and sat down. “Thanks.”

There was a silence as they all tried to find something to fill it when Pence mused, “Do you guys think we'll always be together like this?”

Olette shrugged. “I sure hope so.”

Hayner stared at him, confused. “Huh? Where did that come from?”

Pence shifted, embarrassed. “Oh, well, you know. Just thinking out loud.”

“Well, I doubt we can be together forever. But isn't that what growing up's all about?” he said, very uncharacteristically. “What's important isn't how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other. Right?”

Everyone stared at him and Pence laughed. “Get that off a fortune cookie?”

The teen glared at him in a very Hayner-like way. “That's it, no more ice cream for you! Man, today's turning out to be a drag.”

“Maybe because of yesterday's memory thief,” suggested Olette.

Hayner shook his head. “Nuh-uh. You know what it is? We don't want summer vacation to be over. That's all! So, how about this?” He stood dramatically. “We all go to the beach! And why do we go to the beach? Because we haven't gone once this entire vacation! Blue seas! Blue skies! Let's just get on the train and go!”

Angelina wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about this idea. The surf and sand didn’t agree with her. But then again, they wouldn’t ever make it anyway. Everyone else stood up with him, with unsure looks.

Hayner voiced his disappointment. “No? Aw, c'mon!”

“Maybe you forgot,” Roxas pointed out, “but we're broke.”

“Maybe you forgot I'm smart!”

He ran out into the streets, Olette and Pence following. Pence ducked his head back into the entranceway and called, “Hurry up, guys!”

They all met up in the back ally and went on to Market Street. There, Angelina and Roxas found them looking at a poster announcing the upcoming Struggle match. Hayner pointed up to the poster and turned to Roxas. “Just two days to go. You and I have to make the finals! That way, no matter who wins, the four of us split the prize!”

Roxas grinned. “Okay, you're on.”

“You two are gonna clean up!” yelled Pence.

“Go get 'em!” Olette cheered.

Angelina nodded. “I’m sure you’ll do great.”

Hayner grinned at their support. “It's a promise! Now, let's get down to business. One ticket to the beach is 900 munny. How much for five of us?”

“4500 munny,” Olette calculated.

“And 300 each to spend there. What's that for all of us?”

“1500 munny. A total of 6000 munny.”

“To spend on what?” asked Roxas.

Hayner looked at his friend incredulously. “Pretzels, of course! What else is there?”

“Well, there's always watermelon.”

“Or souvenirs,” said Angelina, wondering if there was manga in this world.

“Too pricey,” objected Hayner, back to watermelons. “They're, like, 2000 munny apiece.”

“Pretzels it is,” agreed Roxas.

“So, where were we?” he asked their personal human-calculator.

“We need 6000 munny altogether,” surmised Olette. “But all we have is...”

“I've got 800,” Pence offered.

Olette looked in her decorated drawstring purse. “...650.”

“150,” sighed Roxas. “Sorry.”

“I’ve got… 100,” said Angelina, remembering the Elixir she’d bought earlier.

“That's 1700 munny!” Hayner concluded. “We need another 4300. Let's find ourselves some odd jobs and earn some dough! We have 'til the train leaves to earn 860 munny each!” He ran, only turning around to say, “Meet at the station with cash in hand!”

Pence sighed. “Didn't he say he had it covered?”

“Whatever,” said Roxas. “Those pretzels are sounding pretty good.”

Olette and Pence teamed up leaving Angelina and Roxas again. They looked over the bulletin board of help-wanted posters. “Let’s see…” Angelina read. “Looks like the highest paying jobs are ‘Letter Delivery’, ‘Luggage Transfer’, and ‘Performance’.”

Roxas was inspecting ‘Letter Delivery’. “I can do this one; I’m pretty good with a skateboard.”

She nodded gratefully. “‘Performer’ doesn’t sound _too_ hard… ‘Luggage Transfer’ can be a two person job, so if we do the other jobs separately and this one together we can get the most munny. After all, they say that the faster it gets done the more munny we earn. Sound good?”

“Yeah, we’ll meet when our jobs are done,” he agreed.

‘Performer’ sounded pretty simple, all Angelina had to do was keep a large light ball in the air for as long as possible using a Struggle club for the entertainment of others. It was a self-paying job so there was no pressure of a boss looking over your shoulder. She had done something like this a lot at home, but this time she had an audience to impress.

Standing in an area with enough people to call a crowd, she hurled the ball upwards and prepared for its descent, club in hand. It came fast and with a loud smack of the club it went up again, going a little farther away from her. Angelina chased after it, jumping to a shocking height. No time to think about it, the ball was smacked again. This was repeated several times until she was too tired to do it any farther. It was harder then it looked. Having not counted the number of hits she got in, she was surprised at the amount of munny she hauled in.

“Was that your first time with a Struggle club?”

Angelina turned to see Roxas behind her. “Yeah, it is.”

He studied her. “That wasn’t too bad, it was almost like you were fighting…”

“I’ve done some kung-fu…” she said, shrugging. “Anyway, how did your job go?”

Roxas flashed a wad of munny. “Pretty well. The birds were annoying, though…”

“You had to deliver to birds?!”

“They’re called ‘carrier pigeons’.”

“Oh, I knew that…” Angelina changed the subject. “Anyway, we only need to do this last job to get the munny we need.”

“Right, we’d better hurry or Hayner and the others will leave without us…”

The last job was to move heavy luggage on a cart uphill into storage. This wouldn’t be so bad, except that it was much taller and wider then both Roxas and Angelina combined. Fortunately, they were allowed to use the Struggle clubs to whack the luggage up. “Are you sure it’s okay to use these? We might damage the stuff inside…”

Roxas shrugged. “I guess so, they said it’s okay as long as we get the job done fast enough.”

Angelina nodded hesitantly. “Okay, we’d better get started. But if we break something, you’re paying.”

Together they continuously hit the luggage, Roxas having an easier time of it. Every once in a while, the entire cart would be thrown in the air. When this happened, one of them would leap up and hit it hard, sending the whole thing far ahead. The task was finished quickly, and for that they were paid handsomely.

Angelina counted it all up. “This is more then enough; we can meet up with everyone now.”

“Just in time, too,” said Roxas, checking his watch. “The train will be leaving soon.”

She wasn’t too concerned about this, but pretended to hurry anyway. They soon got to the train station, where everyone was waiting. As they approached Hayner asked, “All present and accounted for?”

The others nodded affirmatively. Pence turned to Roxas and Angelina. “What've we got?”

“Let's see...” Roxas looks inside his wallet and takes out some munny. “Just this.”

Hayner nodded. “Good job.”

Olette took their munny and added it with the rest. “Nice work, everyone. Added to what we started with, we now have...” She put it all into her munny pouch and added it all up in her head. “Tada! 6700 munny!”

Pence did a victorious movement. “Sweet!”

She handed the bag over to Roxas for safekeeping. “Let's get tickets!”

Olette and Pence ran off to the station, leaving Roxas, Angelina, and Hayner behind. Hayner sighed and turned to Roxas. “We can't be together forever... so we'd better make the time we do have something to remember.”

“Huh?”

He grinned at his friend’s confusion. “Gotcha!”

Hayner teasingly punched Roxas in the stomach and joined the others. Roxas was about to follow when he tripped over something. “Whoa!” There was a clatter as a small stick fell to the ground. The trio ahead stopped to see what was up. Roxas got to his knees, seeing that someone in a black cloak next to him. Angelina’s breath caught, realizing who it was.

“Huh?” The cloaked man had lifted Roxas off the ground and was whispering something to him. “What?”

“Roxas! Three minutes!” Hayner called, distracting him.

“Okay!” Roxas called back. He looked back towards the figure, but he had disappeared.

The remaining two hurried up to the station, where Hayner was ordering the tickets. He held up all five fingers. “Five students!”

“Roxas, the money!” said Pence.

“Wait-” He searched his pocket and, seeing that it wasn’t there, proceeded to search his entire person. “No!”

“Huh?”

Roxas eyes widened as he realized it. “He took it!”

He turned and ran towards the plaza, the other four following him. Olette called, “Where are you going?”

“Remember when I fell?” he asked frantically. “I had the money before that. I bet that guy took it!”

They all, with the exception of Angelina, looked confused. “Guy?”

“He couldn't have gotten too far...”

“What are you talking about?” asked Hayner, clearly concerned. “There was no guy.”

The train bell goes off. “Huh? But he... There wasn't... Really?” The whistle blows and the last train leaves.

“Oh boy...” Pence muttered.

Roxas was still looking confused. “There wasn't anyone...there?”

Angelina pulled him aside and said in a low voice. “I saw him, too. Black hooded cloak, right?”

He nodded hesitantly. “But why are we the only ones who…?”

"I'm not entirely sure," she replied, which was half true. After all, she didn't know why she was experiencing any of this.

Roxas looked around, surprised that everyone else had gone ahead. "Looks like they've left us behind again..."

"Any idea where they would have gone?"

He thought for a moment and then gave a small smile. "Yeah, I think you'll like it..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, our first two-parter! I've caught on pretty quickly that these passages unbroken were very long-winded... Anyway, as the subtitle suggests we can now observe our band of non-characters working part-time jobs and...learning about each other?? Maybe, like a little. If it's not clear by now, the character Angelina pretty much spends most of her time bonding with Roxas during the first half of the story. But that's okay, everyone else is pretty fake anyways. :b
> 
> I should mention that I always liked the over-blown tutorial that is the Roxas story-line, and I think this part of the game is exactly why. Pointless goofing around with mini-game bullshit, that's what I'm here for.


	3. Working Together (Part 2)

Roxas had been correct about his statement, though Angelina hadn't expected to be clinging to a narrow ledge a good distance from the ground. It was frightening at first, but soon it was simply exciting. The quintet had chosen to spend the rest of their afternoon on top of the clock tower. When she was sure she had her balance, Angelina asked, "Isn't this, I don't know, a little illegal?"

"It's fine!" Hayner reassured. "Just as long as we don't get caught..."

"Uh-huh..."

They had all gotten some more sea-salt ice-cream as a reward of sorts for their lost effort. Roxas was still pondering over the mysterious man, his ice-cream dripping over the edge. Olette pointed it out. "It's melting."

"Sorry." He sluggishly tried to remedy the situation.

Hayner had already gotten tired of his friend feeling sorry for himself. "Cheer up already!"

"That was definitely weird, though," Roxas argued.

Olette nodded. "Strange."

"You said it," agreed Hayner.

Angelina shrugged. "I've seen stranger."

She heard Roxas mutter something to himself and was about to say something when the screen of her vision became scrambled again. _Restoration at 28%._ Finally, Angelina could make out a distinct voice. "Naminé, hurry."

The screen cleared to a computer room, the type you'd see in a one-shot villain's basement. An Organization XIII member was juggling their munny pouch while a man in red bandages worked on the computers. If she remembered correctly, his name was DiZ.

"Is it really that hard to make a beach?" the member asked in a complaining voice.

"We'd be giving the enemy another entry point," DiZ explained, as though this wasn't the first time.

"And this?" The man held out the munny pouch.

"We can always buy some sea-salt ice cream," he joked, laughing. "Objects from that town must be kept out of the real world. You can delete that."

The screen scrambled again to reveal a memory. Angelina didn't expect this, considering that she was of no importance to the game, but decided that watching may clear something up.

It was the night before everything had started going weird. She was in one of her depressions, the last one this big had been back in Brooklyn Elementary before it closed. Her life was simply too mundane, Angelina knew that no matter how hard she tried she would never have the same kind of life as those in her books. Deep down, she always knew this. The only cure to this problem was to read even more. That night, nearing midnight, she was drawn to the Kingdom Hearts II manga. The moment she turned to the first page she felt a thrill of excitement and a tug on her heart. A flash of light and she'd warped from the universe.

Then scene changed. Angelina knew instantly this was no memory, but a vision of sorts. Before her stood a boy, a year or two older. He looked quite ordinary, like someone she'd see in the hallways of school, except he held something quite unique. It was a small shield, dark green in color, and perfectly round with the Heartless design punctured by a keyhole. The outer edge was a silver blade, perfect to use as a throwing disc.

The surrounding area was an expanse of darkness so deep Angelina felt she would lose herself in it. Strangely, the most darkness was near the boy, lapping around his feet like small waves. She took a step forward and he made no sign to show that he had seen her. On closer inspection, the hand holding the shield so defensively was shaking, as though an invisible force was pushing it down to get to him. The more he had to struggle to keep his position, the more violent the dark waves became.

When the waves had become a small torrent, he lost his strength and fell to his knees. The darkness lost its form and returned to its normal chaotic state: rising in tendrils, forming a haze, whipping as a barely visible wind, and occasionally taking solid shapes like objects and monstrous creatures.

Angelina raised her arms, for all the good it would do her. A dark force battered her into submission, winding her. Finally taking notice of her, the boy slowly and wearily raised his head, like it was an effort. "Go!! It's too dangerous, you have to-" He was cut off as the force pressed down again. "Now!!!"

"Who are you?!" Angelina found herself in her bed in a cold sweat, shouting at no one. The third day had begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, a short one! :^D
> 
> Here we get our first glimpses of the elusive Alexander Karsath, and some spooky, mystery foreshadowing about the nature of an Interference. Needless to say that neither Alex nor the Lockshield are my creations, so this is the only time I'm going to bring it up. I will admit though, I really did admire the guy as both a character and a writer for a while. ^u^


	4. The Afternoon Streets

Angelina stayed in her bed for the next hour, pondering over her weird 'vision'. It was obviously the missing boy, the one who had come to this world along with her. Was he in some sort of trouble? It would explain why he'd gone missing. But something was telling her that wasn't it, not yet at least. It was equally likely that he was in the real Twilight Town, or simply avoiding the game's plot. And what was that shield, and all that darkness? A type of weapon, she would presume, the exact opposite of the Keyblade. With the shield design, the Heartless symbol, the keyhole, and all that darkness it couldn't really be anything else. In her mind, Angelina changed the name 'Mystery Boy' to 'Lockshield Boy'. It seemed appropriate.

She had just finished getting dressed when there was a knock on the door. Checking her watch, she realized that it was actually pretty late in the day, no longer morning. Angelina opened the door to find Roxas with a nervous look on his face. Trying to hide her surprise, she said, “Hey, what’s up?”

Ignoring formalities Roxas got straight to the point. “We need to talk. Have you seen anything strange lately?”

“At what time? And what do you mean by ‘strange’?”

He continued, impatient with her. “This morning, time… kind of froze. Except I could still move. Then this girl showed up and said she wanted to meet me.”

“And did you?” she asked.

“Not yet, I decided to come to you first. I mean, you’re the only one who can see all of this.”

Angelina nodded. “Did you tell anyone else?”

Roxas shook his head. “They wouldn’t believe me anyway. So did you see anything like that?”

“Sorry, no. I’ve been asleep all morning. What’s the plan, exactly?”

“Well, I was wondering if you could come with me to meet that girl. Is that alright?”

She beamed. “Sure, thought you’d never ask. No one should have to adventure alone. Just a sec, I need shoes…”

After retrieving the only footwear she owned (tattered lace-less black leather shoes) Angelina and Roxas went to the Tram Common, where the hole in the wall led to the haunted mansion. As they approached a black cloud of smoke blocked the way.

“Huh?”

Suddenly several Dusk-type Nobodies sprang from the darkness and latched themselves onto Roxas, pulling him forward. He shouted, “Lemme go!”

With Angelina’s help, he managed to tug himself out of their grasp. No weapons on hand, they bolted away from the persistent creatures. Neither of them had a particular destination in mind, so they ended up in the Sandlot. Unfortunately, it was already occupied.

“Hey, chicken wuss,” Seifer taunted, making Roxas halt. Soon enough, the Dusks caught up.

“Who's that?” Because Fuu didn’t instead ask, ‘ _what’s_ that’, Angelina had to assume that they saw the Nobodies as human. She and Rai got into defensive positions. Vivi could be seen scurrying off.

Seifer growled. “I dunno, but they've already crossed the line. Find a weapon!”

Roxas looked around and spotted a Struggle club. Angelina gave him a look. “Do you _seriously_ expect that to work against these guys?”

“Better then nothing!”

They had no more time to argue, the first Dusk had chosen to lung at him. Roxas tried to strike it, but was once again thrown back. Pausing to look back, he saw that the rival gang had been frozen in time. “Not good…”

Angelina, who had not been frozen, went for sarcasm. “You think?!”

Just as they thought the end might be near a voice spoke up. “Roxas! Use the Keyblade!”

The voice came from one of the building roofs. There stood a young girl with near-white blonde hair and a simple white dress. Angelina recognized her immediately and whispered the name under her breath. “Naminé…”

No more time to think. One of the Dusks attacked and Roxas raised his arms in defense. Angelina blinked and he had disappeared. Or to be more accurate, _she_ had. The room was completely white, like an asylum cell. Facing her was Naminé. “Where’s Roxas?” Angelina asked.

“You don’t already know?” the young girl asked. “He’s at the Station of Awakening. I’m sure you know of it.”

Angelina face-palmed herself. Of course! This was the part when Roxas earned the Keyblade, how could she forget? “How do you know what I know? What am I doing here?”

Naminé smiled, a little sadly. “I’ve known of your existence since you came here, a lot of people know. However, I don’t know exactly _what_ you know, but you at least know this much. What you are doing here, now that’s the mystery…”

Before she could explain any farther, Roxas had suddenly appeared in the white room. He looked battered and confused, Keyblade in hand. He started to speak but Naminé shushed him with a single finger to her lips. “My name is Naminé. Roxas... Do you remember your true name?”

Before Roxas, or anyone else, could respond the dark cloaked Organization XIII member from the other day scooped her up as easily a child would a doll. “Say no more, Naminé.”

“But if no one tells him, Roxas will...” she protested weakly.

“It's best he doesn't know the truth.”

Roxas finally found room to speak. “Hey! You're that pickpocket!”

The mysterious man pointedly ignored him and held out a hand, summoning a portal behind Roxas and Angelina. Roxas tried to avoid him, but the member pushed him through easily enough. Angelina wasn’t too far behind, having been unable to escape the same fate.

They woke up collapsed in the middle of the Sandlot. Rai could be heard talking excitedly. “Seifer, strike a pose, y'know?”

“How's this?” The gang leader sounded annoyingly smug for her liking.

“That's totally perfect, y'know!”

Finally, Angelina could make out what was happening around her. Fuu was taking photos of them while Seifer made victorious poses. It sickened her.

“How 'bout one more, y'know?”

She and Roxas sprang up almost simultaneously. He glared at them. “What's that for!?”

“Keepsake,” Fuu explained.

“Those freaks in the white jumpsuits are gone, y'know?” said Rai.

Fuu nodded. “Cakewalk.”

“What were those things?” Roxas asked for reasons unknown.

“Outsiders, that's what,” said Seifer like that was the only important detail.

Roxas shook his head in exasperation.

“And if they don't wise up to the rules around here, I might have to take ‘disciplinary measure,’” he continued threateningly.

“Oh yeah, Seifer's always lookin' after the town, y'know?” said Rai proudly.

Roxas looked over and saw Hayner, Pence, and Olette had arrived. Hayner hurried off, a little upset. He and Angelina followed them. “Wait up!”

“Hey!” Seifer shouted after them. “No chickening out of the tournament tomorrow!”

“We'll be waitin', y'know?”

By the time they had gotten to the usual spot, the trio was already having sea-salt ice cream. Pence gave them a look. “So...you hung out with Seifer's gang today?”

“Of course not!” replied Angelina sharply.

“N-no... It's not like that...” Roxas decided to change the subject. “Oh yeah! How was the beach? Wasn't that today?”

They all started avoiding his gaze when Olette said, “We didn't go. It wouldn't be the same without you, right?”

“...Sorry. Hey...how 'bout we go tomorrow? We could get those pretzels and...”

“I promised I'd be somewhere,” said Hayner, obviously implying something.

Roxas gave that some thought, then he remembered the tournament. “Ohh... Oh!”

Hayner stood to leave. “I'm outta here.”

As he left, the screen scrambled again. Angelina found herself thinking, ‘couldn’t they end a day normally?!’ _Restoration at 48%._ They were almost done… DiZ and the Organization member were in the computer room again. The member asked, “Was that Naminé made of data?”

DiZ shook his head angrily. “No. Naminé hijacked the data herself. Look what she's done now... She's totally beyond my control!” He slams the desk with a tightened fist.

“Calm down.”

“It doesn't matter,” DiZ sighed. “As long as Naminé accomplishes her goal we needn't worry about what befalls Roxas.”

The mysterious figure nodded. “And what of the girl?”

“She may have the knowledge of things to come, but how could she possibly break out of the system?”

The screen scrambled again, annoyingly at the wrong moment. It was another one of her memories. She had actually appeared in Twilight Town for the first time, the real Twilight Town. Angelina was looking around in amazement and didn’t even notice the dark portal appear behind her. A swarm of Nobodies stepped out and restrained her, along with the mysterious hooded Organization XIII member. She tried screaming but her vision went black as soon as she touched the portal.

Angelina came to semi-consciousness in the main control room. Mystery man and DiZ were discussing her. “-but putting her in the same program as Roxas? With her knowledge won’t she try to bust him out?”

“The system is foolproof, there’s no way she can break him out. He’ll become one with Sora and there’s nothing she can do to stop it. It’s better to keep her contain then let her run free like the other one…”

Once again, Angelina woke up before she could get anything useful from it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the chapter where Angelina...continues to stay out of trouble, even though she was directly invited to take part in the story. *sigh* Oh well. Also featuring UNNECESSARY DRAMA from the NPC corner! :^D


	5. The Encounter (Part 1)

Angelina was halfway to the Usual Spot before she remembered the Struggle Tournament. Not that she had to be there, knowing who was going to win, but she really had nothing else to do. A large crowd had gathered at the Sandlot, which had been set up surprisingly quickly for the tournament. She quickly found that her new friends had already gathered. Fireworks lit the air and the announcer had already started talking.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Struggle-fiends of Twilight Town! It's time for summer's most sizzling clash! That's right! Today is the day for the Struggle and title match! Who will be the one to break through the ranks and take on our champion, Setzer!?”

Rai answered, unneeded. “Seifer, y'know!?”

The announcer ignored him. “And who will leave today as our new Struggle Champion!?”

Olette and Pence joined in. “Hayner! Roxas!”

A bunch of Setzer’s fangirls squealed. “Setzerrrrr!”

The rest of the crowd, annoyingly, took up the chant. “Setzer! Setzer! Setzer! Setzer! Setzer!”

The announcer continued. “Yes, the crowd is fired up, so you know what comes next: Let's...”

**“STRUGGLE!”**

Yet more fireworks. Another announcer came to the stage. Angelina recognized him as one of the shop owners. “Hey, now. It's time to introduce today's combatants! The four bad boys who struggled their way through the preliminaries! Regular finalist and head of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee: Seifer! Completely out of nowhere--who knew he'd make it so far this year? Vivi! An underground favorite and local attitude problem: Hayner! It's his first trip to the finals! And Struggler number 4, who happens to be my absolute favorite customer: Roxas!”

Hayner and Roxas exchanged looks, Roxas backing down. It looked like they hadn’t quite made up yet.

“So--who will win this sweltering summer Struggle!? Who will take home the grand prize? The summa cum laude of Struggle--- the Four Crystal Trophy! AND...a chance to take on our defending champion, Setzer!”

A man, assumedly Setzer, held up the championship belt. The crowd went wild.

The new announcer seemed pleased by that. “It won't be long now, folks. I suggest our challengers go over the official Struggle Rules before we begin!”

A referee went over the rules and handed over two clubs to Roxas and Hayner, who were up first. While exchanging formalities, Roxas apologized. “Hey... Sorry about yesterday.”

Hayner raised an eyebrow. “What, you still worried about that? You need to learn to let that stuff go.”

“I've got a lot on my mind,” he said.

“Sorry, man.” Hayner then looked confused. “Wait, what am I sorry for?”

Both boys smiled at that. Olette and Pence exchanged knowing smirks.

The announcer wasn’t going to wait any longer. “Our first match of today's Struggle tournament will be between Roxas and his best friend Hayner!” The crowd let out another cheer.

Hayner took a defensive stance. “Ready, Roxas?”

Without farther adieu, they went straight into battle. They were both fast, it was a close call. But finally the announcer took Roxas’s arm and shouted out, “And the winner is Roxas! Not even friendship will slow this kid down. And Hayner put up a great fight, too.”

As soon as he was free, Roxas ran over to Hayner. “I lost,” Hayner complained, standing up. “Awww, I can't believe it! I guess I taught you well.”

“I had a lot of fun fighting you,” said Roxas.

Hayner started to smile, but then he caught himself and crossed his arms. “Yeah, well I didn't, wise guy.”

“Hey, let's find a way to cheer you up,” his friend offered.

“Nah, that's all right.” He friendly punches Roxas’s hand out of the way and heads towards the stage exit, nearly running into Seifer.

“Out of the way.”

“You in a rush to lose?” Hayner challenged.

Seifer ignored him. He and one of his gang members, Vivi, faced each other on the stage. Seifer looked at the smaller boy angrily. “Don't mess with your elders.”

The announcer had started up again. “Whew, just look at those sparks fly! I guess Seifer didn't expect to fight one of his own boys!”

The fight started, Seifer swinging desperately while Vivi bounced out of his way with ease. Then as soon as his guard was down, Vivi struck hard and fast.

“When did Vivi get so tough?” said Hayner in astonishment.

Roxas shrugged.

Seifer finally got the upper hand. He blocked one of Vivi’s slashes and knocked the boy away. “You're mine!” He lunged, but Vivi took advantage of his downward momentum and slammed him into the ground.

The crowd was stunned silent. The announcer looked blankly confused, trying to figure out what had just happened. “I-I'm not sure what just happened... Um...but...the winner is Vivi! In a positively blistering comeback!”

Seifer sat up and shook his head. He turned to Roxas. “That's not Vivi.”

“Huh?”

The older boy stormed out. “Thrash 'im,” he growled angrily.

“It looks like Seifer's withdrawn from the Struggle for third place,” said the first announcer.

Hayner looked excited by this. “So I'm in third now? Aw, baby!”

The first announcer handed the clubs over to Roxas and Vivi. Apparently he was still thinking about that last move that Vivi had done because he said, “Keep it clean, fellas.”

“And now, the match you've been waiting for: Roxas vs. Vivi!” cheered the second announcer.

Vivi was as fast and brutal as before, but Roxas pushed on and soon he was at an advantage. As he was about to deliver the final blow all the noise froze. Angelina looked around her to see that everyone was frozen in time, like Roxas had described a day earlier. Suddenly Vivi had changed into a Dusk type Nobody, more appearing around him.

Roxas looked to her desperately, noticing that she could still move. “Again!?” The club transformed into a Keyblade. “Again...”

Angelina tried to get onto the stage, but as she approached she was repelled by a force field composed of near invisible hexagons. She pounded on it, wanting to help him fight.

Then a slender hand grabbed her arm. A Dusk stood (or rather, floated) behind her. She kicked at it, but that did no good. Even if she could use a Keyblade (unlikely) there was no weapon around to substitute. What did the other characters do? Angelina thought, then remembered that those who help the Keyblade owner could defeat Nobodies and Heartless.

She tried to punch the Nobody, thinking of both Roxas and Sora just in case. Finally it connected, but poorly. She never could keep her punches quite as straight as she wanted. Fortunately it did the trick, distracting the Dusk for Angelina to get out of its grip. She continued throwing punches and ducking out of reach until the creature burst into a dark cloud. By the time it was defeated Roxas’s battle was over.

As he was catching his breath, an Organization XIII member appeared behind him and began clapping. “Roxas. All right. Fight fight fight.” His voice was familiar. He took a step forward and removed his hood, revealing flaming red spikes and bright green eyes. “You really don't remember? It's me. You know, Axel.”

Roxas just looked confused. “Axel?”

Axel sighed. “Talk about blank with a capital ‘B’. Man oh man, even the Dusks aren't gonna crack this one.” Fire flares up next to each hand and his red chakrams appear from them.

“Wait a sec, tell me what's going on!” Roxas demanded, taking a step back.

Axel ignored him and glanced around. “This town is his creation, right? Which means we don't have time for a Q & A. You're coming with me, conscious or not. Then you'll hear the story.” He looked at Angelina. “You too, you’re gonna answer some questions-”

“Never!”

“At least let me finish!!”

Something strange, barely visible, swept through the stage. It looked almost like wind, but it didn’t have the same substance. Axel looked a bit more worried. “Uh-oh…”

Roxas was getting frustrated. “What's going **ON!?** ” He threw the Keyblade at Axel, only to have it reappear in his hand.

“Number 13. Roxas. The Keyblade's chosen one.” Axel got into a defensive position, ready to fight.

“Okay, fine! You asked for it!”

“That's more like it!”

It was a tough fight, but eventually Roxas got him to back down. Axel grinned. “Not bad, Roxas.”

Suddenly DiZ appeared in a swirl of computer code.

“So it was you,” Axel growled. He threw a flaming chakram at him to no effect.

“Roxas, this man speaks nonsense!” DiZ spoke in his deep voice.

“Roxas, don't let him deceive you!”

“Roxas!”

“Roxas!”

The banter continued much like that. Roxas looked between them like a confused puppy choosing from two owners. He clutched his head, migraine forming. “Hayner...Pence...Olette... Hayner! Pence! Olette!”

All of a sudden the crowds cheering had started up again. Axel and DiZ had disappeared. The announcer looked confused. “What? What just happened?”

Vivi sat up and shook his head, like he was waking up. “Huh? ...How did I get here?”

“Roxas!” Olette cried out as she, Angelina, Hayner, and Pence ran onto the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Roxas--our new top Struggler!”

Hayner seemed to notice something was up. “Roxas?”

Roxas was about to reply when he was interrupted by the squeal of fangirls. “Setzeerrrr!”

The crowd went nuts. “Setzer! Setzer! Setzer! Setzer! Setzer!”

The man had slicked back white spikes for hair. He mainly wore purple, his regal-looking jacket tossed onto his shoulders. A look of overconfidence was on his face. The whole look about him made Angelina flinch.

Olette noticed her discomfort. “What’s wrong?”

“I just can’t stand guys like that,” she admitted. “Anyway, you’d better get up there, Roxas.”

As they went back into the audience the first announcer approached Roxas and Setzer. “You two, play fair now. You're at the top of the bracket.”

Setzer tossed back a lock of his ‘perfect’ hair. “There's only room for one up here.”

“Well, may the best man win!”

“Don’t worry, Roxas will!” shouted Angelina, earning a glare from Setzer.

As the announcer went out of earshot Setzer came up to Roxas and said, “Hey, Rucksack. How about you throw the match for me?”

“Roxas! Focus!” shouted Hayner.

“Yeah, you can beat this idiot in thirty seconds!” added Angelina.

Setzer looked at her like he really wanted her to shut up. He continued, trying to keep his cool. “Let me win, and I'll make it worth your while.”

“Get real!”

“Roxas, our underdog hero, versus Setzer, our defending champion!” said the announcer, not noticing anything wrong. “The winner of this match will be the true champion! That's bragging rights for a whole year, folks!”

Setzer smirked. “Whatever you think is right, you're wrong. And that is a big mistake. My life's a chip in your pile. Time to ante up!”

It wasn’t much of a contest. Compared to Nobodies and Axel, this poser was a pushover. Roxas won with a record beating score of one hundred seventy six to nine points.

“I'm not supposed to lose!”

The crowd (finally!) took up Roxas’s name in a cheer. “Roxas! Roxas! Roxas! Roxas! Roxas!”

As Setzer tried to exit indiscreetly Hayner, Olette, Pence, and Angelina bumped into him to get to Roxas.

“Roxas!”

“You did it!”

“That was awesome, Roxas!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Struggle Tournament is finally here! Will Roxas win?? ...yes. Okay, but will he and Hayner be able to overcome this new hurdle in their relation- oh, it's already over. Watch in amazement as Roxas is ambushed by several Nobodies, only to instead focus on Angelina struggling to subdue just one. Mmm, that's some quality writing!
> 
> About Vivi, my friend and I had a lot of arguments over their gender, since the game doesn't make it clear. I settled for 'boy' because I THINK that's what he was in his Final Fantasy game, but I'm still not sure.
> 
> So yeah, we're starting to get into Axel territory! I'm so glad though that there were very few scenes with both Axel and Alex, because every time they were together it was such a pain!
> 
> Oh, and if you want to see some REAL struggle action, I would recommend reading the actual Kingdom Hearts manga. It's like beating Setzer in the actual game, only with more foam balls stuck to Velcro suits. Yeah, that's where it's at.


	6. The Encounter (Part 2)

Later that afternoon they sat on the clock tower’s ledge, still talking excitedly about the tournament. Roxas wore the champion belt proudly, inspecting the trophy. Then he took the yellow crystal off and tossed it to Olette, doing the same to the other three crystals. That left only Angelina. He considered it for a moment, then tossed her the rest of the trophy. She fumbled to catch it while keeping her balance.

Roxas held his blue crystal to catch the light. “As promised.”

“You could have killed me with that!” Angelina complained, laughing. “But are you really sure it’s okay for me to keep this? It’s most of the trophy!”

He shrugged. “It was the only thing I could think of. I don’t need it, anyway.”

Pence held out his green crystal. “Thanks a ton, Roxas!”

“One more treasure for us to share,” said Hayner, following suit as well as Olette.

“I've got a present, too...for all of us,” Olette remembered, taking out five bars of sea-salt ice cream.

“Whoa!”

Roxas stood up, misjudging his movements and lurching frighteningly close to the edge. Just as he lost his balance, Angelina panicked despite knowing that nothing would happen. As he fell she reached out to grab his hand, but he was too far out and she fell with him.

The ground came close and the metaphorical screen flickered, but it felt different this time. Suddenly Angelina, or at least her perspective, was back on the ledge. Everyone was there except for Roxas. In his place was the Lockshield Boy, who was nervously eyeing the height of the clock tower but managing to keep his cool. By the looks of it, he had just won the tournament.

Angelina saw that she was currently residing in the boy’s head. She decided to experiment. _‘Um, hello? Testing, one two three…’_

 _‘What the-?!_ Fortunately, this kid had enough intelligence to not say that out loud. ‘ _This isn’t supposed to happen, who are you?’_

 _‘I’m just like you, a person from the real world. Now I would suggest that we continue this conversation in private,’_ she continued. _‘Your friends are getting suspicious.’_

The boy turned to the others. “Sorry, something I need to take care of. I’ll be back in a sec.” He stood up, trying extra careful not to fall, and went into the clock tower’s workings. _‘So what are you doing in my head?’_

_‘That’s a good question. I fell off the clock tower with Roxas and all of a sudden I’m in your head. I’ve been seeing you in my dreams for a while now, so it’d be nice to actually know your name, Lockshield Boy.’_

_‘I’m Alexander Karsath. You know about the Lockshield?’_

Angelina would have nodded, but she didn’t have a head. _‘Yeah, I saw it in my dream. I’m Angelina de Castellano. You know, you have the same name as my cat…’_

 _‘Your… cat?’_ He shook that thought out of his head. _‘You say you fell with Roxas. He wasn’t going to die, why would you try to help him?’_

_‘Hey, it was instinct!’_

_‘So you’re in the fake Twilight Town,’_ Alexander concluded.

 _‘Yup.’_ She felt her consciousness tugging on her. _‘I have to go. See you in the plot!’_

 _Restoration at 79%._ It turned out that Angelina must not have had any more memories because she woke up on the fifth day. Oh well, at least now she had a name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short scene, in which I immediately try to kill off both the main characters! ...I did not succeed.
> 
> The crystal scene is kind of a sign that this was made for a maximum of four characters. It's almost like I'm...interfering by having Angelina take part.
> 
> AND we get to see more of Alex! The height stuff was an allusion to his real-life phobia, which he hinted at in the original Interference. I wanted to draw a bit more attention to it in my story though, since it seemed like he was kind of covering up how debilitating it actually was for him.


	7. Sunset Horizons (Part 1)

With the tournament out of the way there wasn’t much to do in the Usual Spot. When Angelina got there everyone was laying around listlessly except for Olette, who was glaring at Hayner with her hands on her hips. Hayner continued the argument. “Only three days left of summer vacation--so don't even mention that assignment!”

Olette took up a stern look. “But we agreed we'd get it finished today.”

He looked at Angelina as though he didn’t see her enter the room. “You have homework too, right? Did you already get it done?”

“Hayner, we’re not going to take Angel’s idea,” objected Olette.

Angelina shrugged. “I’m transferring schools this year, so I don’t have homework.”

“Lucky!”

Roxas was spacing out as usual. “Yesterday... I fell off the station tower, didn't I?”

Hayner looked at him like he was crazy. “You wouldn't be here if you did!”

Angelina gave Roxas a nod behind their backs.

“But man, that was a close one...” said Pence.

“Stop changing the subject!” Olette insisted.

Hayner gave in. “Okay, already! You win. We'll do the homework. Stupid independent study…” he muttered. “So, anybody got any bright ideas for a topic?”

“Maybe we could study the stuff that's happening to me,” suggested Roxas. “You know, the dreams--- and the guys in white...”

“Forget it.”

“Why?”

“You know, things have been weird with you and the town since the photos were stolen, right?”

Pence took it from there. “Well, tomorrow, we're all gonna search the town and find out what's been goin' on.”

Olette nodded, smiling for the first time since the argument started. “Lots of people are helping out.”

“All that for me?” Roxas cheered up considerably. “I'll go get some ice cream!”

Once they all had their ice cream, Pence shared his idea. “There's this strange rumor going around. Wanna hear it? You know the stone steps at Sunset Station? We use 'em all the time, without even thinking about it. But---and this is the weird part---the steps count different going up and down!”

Hayner jumped up. “Seriously!?”

He nodded. “And there are six other weird stories like that. It's like...the seven wonders of Twilight Town.”

Hayner grinned. “We should investigate those for our school project! Pence, you're a genius!”

“There might be other rumors going around, too. Let's split up! I'm gonna look for the seven wonders...”

“Olette and I will go find some new rumors! C'mon!”

Pence turned to Roxas. “That leaves you and me, Roxas. Let's try the train first. To the station!”

“Count me in!” said Angelina. “I’ll go for anything supernatural.”

“Are you sure?” asked Olette. “It’s not your project so you don’t have to.”

“That’s alright, it sounds like fun.”

At that Roxas, Pence, and Angelina went to Central Station. Pence turned to them, making his voice sound mysterious. “The time has come! Our hunt for the seven wonders begins!” Olette and Hayner came up behind them. “Whoa! Find new rumors already?”

Olette shook her head. “Nothing on Market Street.”

“You twerps aren't gonna scoop us,” Hayner challenged. “We're going to the terrace with you.”

“Hayner, it's not a race!”

“Well, it is now!”

“C'mon, we can all go,” offered Roxas.

The moment the train hit the station Hayner rushed out and ran ahead. “Olette! Hurry!”

Olette went to catch up with him, leaving the trio to their work. Roxas stretched, looking at the stairs. “Huh. Aren't these the steps you talked about? The ones that count different going up and down?”

Pence chuckled to himself. “Umm...actually, it's the stupidest thing ever, but...”

“What?”

“Rai's the one who counted,” he admitted. “He's like, ‘Every time I count, it's different, Y'KNOW?’ Ha ha ha ha!”

“So...he just counted wrong?” Roxas concluded.

Pence nodded and Roxas sighed. “Hey, no worries.”

They were just about to leave when Angelina stopped them. “Wait, I want to check it.”

She walked down the stairs slowly, counting them on her way down. Then she did the same thing on her way up. When she reached the top she gasped. “No way!”

They looked at her expectantly. Roxas asked, “So do they count different?”

Angelina turned and grinned at them. “Just kidding! Of course they don’t! Sixteen steps both ways.”

Pence sighed. “Okay, you two go check out the rest of the seven wonders. I’ll stay here and tell you where to go next.”

“What, you’re not coming? Don’t tell me you’re just going to let us risk our lives while you stay where it’s safe…”

“Hey, if the navigator dies you’ll both be lost.”

“Um, could we please stop talking about death?” suggested Roxas.

“Alright, fine,” said Angelina, clearly disappointed. “Let’s just go to the first spot.”

Roxas and Angelina continued to the first spot Pence pointed out, a brick alleyway leading to a dead end. They were approaching it to inspect it when a pale yellow ball came whizzing at them at high speed. Roxas pulled out his Struggle club just in time, the ball ricocheted off its surface before it could collide with his head. “What was that?!”

“I don’t know, but keep your guard up!” replied Angelina.

Before she could say anymore, more balls began shooting themselves out of the wall, leaving little room to dodge. As she watched, Angelina saw how the bricks warped and rippled as the balls passed through. “They aren’t coming from a hole, more like a distortion in space. I think if one of us can get close enough to touch it, it will disrupt it. I’m going in, cover me.”

They worked as a team, Roxas batting off the balls while Angelina squeezed through the small gaps. Eventually she got up to the wall and tapped it quickly, letting just one last ball pop out pathetically.

Pence happened to see the last ball and ran over to check it out. “Oh, it's just you, Roxas. Were you throwing a ball? That ball flew out of nowhere and totally startled me. Hey, I know! This explains one of those seven wonders!”

Angelina looked at him, perplexed. “But how does that-?!”

Roxas interrupted her. “Just stop, there’s no way he’s gonna believe us.”

She already knew it was just another glitch in the matrix anyway. There was no way these NPCs were going to understand that. She sighed. “Fine…”

The next stop was a train tunnel. As before, Pence was not joining them. Roxas entered ahead to find Vivi alone. He ran over to him. “Vivi?”

Angelina caught up with him, seeing what was going on. “Wait, it’s a-!”

Vivi drew his weapon and split into several more of himself. When there were at least seven of him they turned to Roxas and attacked. Roxas swung his Struggle club and hit a Vivi, causing him to dissipate into data streams. Each Vivi could only last a few hits, so the fight was short lived.

When the last line of code swirled into nothingness the real Vivi entered the tunnel from outside. Seeing the look on Roxas’s face he asked, “What is it, Roxas?” He took a few more steps, drawing his Struggle club. “Oh, did you need this, Roxas? Planning on getting in some practice, I bet.”

“Er, no, it's just that... there were so many of you...”

Vivi tilted his head in confusion. “Huh? So...many of me? I don't get it. Anyway, I'm done with this, Roxas. You can take your time.”

Roxas and Angelina left the tunnel, running into Pence who heard the commotion. “So the mystery voice was just Vivi practicing.”

“Listen, there were a whole bunch of Vivi clones here just a minute ago...” Roxas tried to explain but his friend refused to listen, pointing them in the direction of the next wonder.

The two, Pence excluded, found themselves in a courtyard with a small waterfall. Roxas went up to examine it. As he looked at his reflection his reflection looked back, stepping out of the waterfall and through Roxas. It became like a three-dimensional shadow, getting into Roxas’s fighting stance and challenging him.

This battle was much harder, as the shadow had the same strength and skills as Roxas himself. They both struck their final blows at the same time, defeating the shadow and knocking Roxas to the ground.

Pence ran up, seeing Roxas fall. “Roxas!” Roxas stood up and dusted himself off. “You all right?”

Without waiting for an answer he went over to the waterfall, jumping a little. “Now that's spooky! I thought I saw someone, but it was just my reflection. I bet this is behind one of the seven wonders!”

Roxas was in thought, a little shaken up. “Another...me?”

Last stop was a clearing on a hilltop. A large burlap bag came lumbering towards them, startling Roxas. “Whoa!”

“We need to slow it down,” surmised Angelina. “Could you jump on top of it and ride it for a while, just until it’s tired out?”

He did so, which was easier said than done. It wasn’t making it easy for him, it kept trying to buck him off. Eventually Roxas had it pinned down. A brown dog found its way out of the bag, wandering to its owner.

As always, Pence came as soon as the mystery was over. “Oh, it was just a dog. Did you let it out of the sack, Roxas? This explains one of those seven wonders!”

“You know...that last wonder wasn't exactly wonderful,” said Roxas, still exhausted from taming the dog.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Angelina was actually quite disappointed in the turnout.

Pence still had his excitement. “I understand, say no more. But this next one's gonna be really great! Wonder number Six!”

On cue, Hayner and Olette returned. “We got another lead!”

Olette nodded enthusiastically. “’ The Ghost Train Mystery’...”

“Everybody knows about Wonder number Six!”

“Yeah, well, I didn't,” replied Hayner sheepishly.

“Did you find out where the train runs?” asked Roxas.

“You can see it from Sunset Hill,” said Olette.

“That’s convenient, we’re already here!” said Angelina, walking over to the fence that prevented people from falling off the hill and into the train tracks below. The others followed suite.

“If the rumors are true, it'll be here any minute... For they say the train is empty. No driver, no conductor, no passengers... **_NO RETURN_** ,” said Pence in his mysterious voice.

They waited for some time, with no ghost train showing up. Getting bored, they ended up sprawled on the ground instead of standing impatiently. Olette tried to start the conversation. “We've gotta make it to the beach next year.”

“Yeah,” agreed Hayner. “We better get jobs the second vacation starts.”

“Good afternoon, slackers.”

They turned in surprise to see Seifer looking down at them. “What are you doing out here?”

“What do you care?” snarled Hayner, moodily.

“I don't. Tell me anyway.”

“We're waiting for the ghost train,” answered Pence.

“Waiting for the ghost train!” he repeated with a mocking laugh.

Roxas stood up, annoyed.

Seifer shot him a glare. “Why does looking at you always tick me off?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it's destiny.”

“Destiny... In that case, let's be friends. I don't feel like cooperating with destiny.”

“When have you ever cooperated with anything?” pointed out Hayner.

Seifer turned around, leaving.

“Seifer!”

“I know. Tomorrow.”

“Look!” shouted Roxas, the only one who was paying attention to the tracks. A midnight blue train came from seemingly out of nowhere. Perhaps it was the gold moons and stars decorating it, but something about it seemed… magical. “It's really true... And there's really no one aboard! What's the catch? There's gotta be a catch, right?”

Hayner, Pence, and Olette looked at each other, not understanding what he was talking about.

“Then it's real? Let's go to the station!”

The five rush to the station to catch the train, Roxas leading the way. The train is there when they arrive. Roxas noticed the door was opened. “Let's go in!”

Hayner put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“What?”

“Um...you'll get hurt.”

The moment Roxas had looked away, the mystical train had disappeared. The normal orange train was pulling in. “Huh?”

 _“The train will be arriving shortly.”_ The train opened its doors, allowing the passengers to disembark. Among them were Fuu and Rai, probably to pick up Vivi and Seifer.

“C’mon,” said Hayner, giving him a small push.

Roxas looked at his friends imploringly. “A train came from the beach. There was no driver, right?”

“Let's go...” urged Pence, starting to sound worried.

“Right?!” He was sounding desperate, now.

Olette looked at him apologetically and shook her head. Getting thoroughly annoyed by this point, Hayner pushed him into the train. Roxas sat next to Angelina. Making sure no one was listening, he said, “Let me guess, you saw it too? All of the other Wonders?”

She nodded.

Relieved by that response, he pressed on. “But why is it just us?”

Angelina sighed. “I wish I knew that myself…” What she didn’t say, was that she only knew why _he_ could see all this. She just wanted to know why she was there in the first place.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

She considered it, but said, “No, I’m just as confused as you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omigod I LOVE this part! Not that it was particularly fun to play, but I find glitches really interesting. They're cool. And yes, I did totally count the steps both ways when I played (but don't quote me on the sixteen steps bit).
> 
> So Angelina gets to start helping. Go teamwork! ...y'know, only at times when Roxas could have really done it himself. Also, secrets! Intrigue! Drama! ;D


	8. Sunset Horizons (Part 2)

The gang arrived at the train station and began to walk towards Market Street. “Let's go home and work on the paper,” said Hayner.

“’ The rumors were bogus. The end,’” concluded Pence, like it was going to get them a passing grade.

Olette narrowed her eyes at the laziness of it all. “We can still make it sound good if we write about all the work we did.”

“But what about the last one, the seventh wonder?” asked Roxas.

“Who cares?” countered Hayner.

“I do. C'mon, Pence.”

“Roxas...” said Olette, exasperated.

Pence sighed at Roxas's determination. “It's at that haunted mansion.”

“Hey, that one sounds like it could be real. And besides, how can you do a report on the seven wonders without the seventh?” said Angelina practically.

They were almost there, Roxas in the lead, when Pence said, “You know something... We were gonna check the mansion out tomorrow. It _is_ the most suspicious place.”

“Right…” said Roxas, unsure where this was going.

“Even Seifer's gang was gonna help,” he continued.

“Seifer?”

“Yeah, Hayner asked him to.”

Roxas looked up at a dusty window on the second floor. “So, what're we lookin' for?”

“Well, they say there's a girl who appears at the second floor window even though no one's lived here for years.”

As he said it, Roxas blanked out. Angelina knew he was having a meeting up there with Naminé and that it was something he had to do alone, but she still felt annoyed that she had been left out.

After a good shaking from Pence, Roxas had returned to his head.

“Roxas! Roxas!”

“Huh?”

“Did you see her?”

Roxas nodded. “Yeah. Watch the window, closely.”

Pence watched were he had pointed, noticing the curtain flutter. “Oh, lame. That's just the curtains moving. There must be a draft somewhere. I'm surprised this old place even has curtains.”

The small girl in white was still there, in Roxas and Angelina’s visions. She had never left. “...Yeah.”

“Well, let's head back to the usual spot. Hayner and Olette are waiting.”

They returned, where Olette greeted them. “Hey guys, how'd it go?”

“The girl in the window turned out to be a curtain flapping in the wind,” explained Pence, disappointed.

“I figured as much. The report's already done.”

He cheered. “All right!”

She giggled. “So, wanna go find Hayner? He's probably at the station.” Roxas looked up, and she noticed how he felt. “You know...we only have two more days together.”

“Huh?”

“Summer vacation, remember?”

“Oh...right.”

They found Hayner on the edge of the clock tower, already eating ice cream. “Tomorrow we search the town.”

“Next day's the fair,” Pence listed.

Olette nodded. “The last day of summer.”

Hayner had a pained look on his face. “Don't say that! You'll give me an ulcer!”

“Not if you explode from all that ice cream first,” teased Pence. This threw everyone into a fit of laughter, except for Roxas.

No scramble this time, just a blackout. _Restoration at 97%._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't caught on yet, all of the sub-titles I've been using are names of soundtrack music from Kingdom Hearts II. The Interference did this as well, using two of the main songs from each world as chapter titles (the regular walk-around music for the first visit, and the battle themes for the second), so I was left with a bunch of miscellaneous titles to work with. I just use them by feel, so many of them are probably mismatched with the world they're set in. btw Lazy Afternoons is one of my favorite songs in the whole series <3
> 
> ...I'm talking about music because this scene is really boring on its own.


	9. The Escapade (Part 1)

Angelina woke up groggy the next morning. This ‘forced unconsciousness’ stuff was taking a toll on her mental health. Good thing she’d only have to endure it for another… how many days? She counted on her fingers as she tried to remember. There was the day of the photo thief, the day they had to earn money for the beach, the day they met Naminé, the Struggle Tournament, and the Seven Wonders tour yesterday. That left…

The day Sora would wake up.

Her mind reeled. Was it really the sixth day already? She had not prepared herself for it at all, should she tell Roxas? Should she just let it happen? Could she go adventuring with the real Sora? Would she get a Keyblade?! Angelina shook her head vigorously to clear it and calm herself. No, they don’t just give those out.

But what was up with that guy’s Lockshield? Was it just because he came to this world as an outsider or did this Alex person happen to fit the qualifications? She hated to admit it, but Angelina was starting to become a little bit jealous of him. All this time she had been useless and already he had accomplished much more then she could think of.

Checking her malfunctioning alarm clock (which could tell time but failed to wake her properly) Angelina realized it was already late in the morning. She rushed getting dressed and skipped breakfast. Even if she couldn’t help she had to at least be there, in case something came up that she hadn’t thought of. At least she could say she was there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh, that was a lot shorter than I was expecting. Though I must say, it's been a while since Angelina could just have her own thoughts.


	10. The Escapade (Part 2)

Roxas walked into the Usual Spot, exhausted. As it had been for the past few days, more memories of Sora, Donald, and Goofy had invaded his dreams. Strangely, after last night everything felt like they were finally in the right places…

Then there was that other dream with the reoccurring theme of a secret organization, the Keyblade, and him in a black coat. This time a blindfolded silver-hair guy had demanded where Roxas had gotten the Keyblade. When he refused to say, the mysterious stranger attacked, causing him to wake up. So it was reasonable to say he was tired.

Roxas pulled back the curtain and entered. Spotting Hayner, Pence, and Olette he announced his presence by saying, “Man, I could not sleep last night...”

They ignored him, talking amongst themselves. Hayner seemed to be reading some kind of note.

“Guys?” He reached out to tap Hayner on the shoulder only to find his hand pass right though him. “Huh?”

Hayner crumples the note in his hand. “He ditched us!”

"Where could he have gone?" wondered Pence.

“What are you talking about, I’m right here!” exclaimed Roxas, traces of panic in his voice.

Distracted by this new epidemic of suddenly becoming intangible and unremembered, he had stopped paying attention to the conversation. Soon after they ran out, passing through Roxas again. He picked up the photo of them, which had previously included him. Then he noticed the crumpled up note. He picked up the wad and smoothed it out.

It read,

_Sorry, I'm not going to be around this morning. I don't mean to leave you guys behind, but today's a pretty important day. But I'm pretty sure the Nobodies are going to attack me again, so I don't want to put you guys in danger. Again, sorry. I'll see you guys later._

_It's been fun.  
Alex_

“Who’s Alex? And what are… Nobodies?” Something sparked in the back of his head and a vision of the spindly white creatures.

Roxas walked outside to clear his head, only to run into Axel and several Dusks. Axel sighed. “Look at what it's come to. I've been given these icky orders to destroy you…if you refuse to come back with me.”

He tried a bluff. “We're...best friends, right?”

Axel scratched the back of his red head. “Sure...but I'm not getting turned into a Dusk for...Wait a sec! You remember now!?”

“Y...eah.”

He seemed pretty excited at that. “Great! But, you know, gotta make sure and all. So, umm... What's our boss's name?”

Roxas faltered, unsure of what to say.

Axel went straight back to disappointment “Can't believe this...”

In a burst of flames his trademark chakram appeared at his sides. Roxas grabbed a nearby stick which instantaneously became the Keyblade. He quickly defeated the Dusks but as Axel was about to make the first strike he became frozen in time. Seeing this, Roxas halted mid-strike. The voice of DiZ echoed into his head.

_Roxas, to the mansion! The time has come!_

“Roxas! There you are, thank goodness I found you in time!” Angelina came in running, something she didn’t do often.

“You… you can see me?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but it seems I’m invisible too.”

Roxas explained to her about how his friends didn’t seem to remember him and of the voice that gave him directions. “Want to come?”

“Like I have anything better to do?"

They reached the mansion, only to find the gates locked. Around a dozen Dusks came up from behind.

“Don't call me and then lock me out...” Suddenly a look a realization crossed his face and Roxas pulled out the Keyblade. From the tip a white light glowed and shot into the keyhole. An audible click could be heard from inside.

“It worked!”

“Hence the name, ‘Keyblade’,” Angelina pointed out.

They entered into the main lobby, which looked like it had recently been infiltrated. There were footprints on the floor where peoples’ shoes had picked up some of the thick layer of dust that coated everything. From the looks of it they had been fighting.

“Think whoever left these tracks are still here?” asked Roxas.

“I… don’t think so…” Angelina listened for a few seconds, eventually picking up the sound of a lone pair of footsteps. They were far off, but the echoic house amplified it enough. “There’s one more person…”

“Think we should go towards or away?”

“Away. They won’t be able to see us anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Let’s check upstairs first.”

Roxas knew where he wanted to check first. They climbed the stairs to the second floor, the Nobodies seemed to have been taken care of before hand. Knowing which room it was, he pushed the door open to reveal the White Room. He walked passed the crayon drawings, stopping at one depicting him in an alleyway of a dark city.

Suddenly Roxas cringed in pain, clutching his head as a headache built.

“Hey, you okay?!”

In moments it cleared and he straightened again. In that moment Naminé had entered the room. Finally he spoke. “Organization XIII... they're a bad group.”

The girl shrugged. “Bad or good, I don't know. They're a group of incomplete people who wish to be whole. To that end, they're desperately searching for something.”

“What?”

Naminé paused, then she said, “Kingdom Hearts.” To everyone’s surprise he began laughing. This caused her to tilt her head. “Funny?”

Roxas regained control of himself. “It's just, I think…I've been running away from the question I really wanna ask.” He walked over to the table and leaned against it. “What's gonna happen to me now? Just tell me that. Nothing else really matters anymore.”

“You are...” she began, but was interrupted when her form flickered, like she wasn’t really there.

“Naminé!”

Her form shifted farther until it could no longer hold, breaking into many small pieces. In a swirl of data DiZ appeared. “There's no knowledge that has the power to change your fate.”

“Even if it doesn't, I wanna know. I have the right to know!” Roxas challenged.

“A Nobody doesn't have a right to know. Nor does it even have the right to be.”

He was getting sick and tired of this round-about banter. “But what _IS_ a Nobody!?”

DiZ smirked. “Why don’t you ask your quiet friend over there?”

Roxas glanced back at Angelina, who had remained silent because she didn’t feel it was her place to speak. “Angel?”

She shrunk back from the sudden attention. “Um… Well…”

An Organization member appeared, saving her from the inquisition. “DiZ, we're out of time. Too many Nobodies!”

They opened up a portal behind them, a dark black vortex. Naminé was inside. “Roxas. Nobodies like us are only half a person. You won't disappear. You'll be whole!”

“I'll...disappear...?” he questioned slowly.

“I… I would listen to her, if I were you! This doesn’t have to be as painful as it’s going to be!” added Angelina, finding her strength.

DiZ’s brow furrowed. “No further outbursts!”

Naminé tried one more time. “No, you won't disappear! You'll-”

In a final attempt to keep her quiet, DiZ grabbed her harshly and covered her mouth.

“Wait!” shouted Roxas, running over to help her. Unfortunately the member got in his way.

Naminé bit his hand for one last outburst. “Roxas! We will meet again. And then we can talk about everything. I may not know it's you, and you may not know it's me. But we will meet again. Someday soon. I promise!” At that, they faded into the portal.

“Let her go!” Roxas growled. The portal and the coated figure disappeared. “Naminé!”

There was a tense silence. Then Angelina said tentatively, “…Roxas? We’ll see her again soon so… er, we should probably move on…”

After a moment he responded. “Yeah, let’s keep going.”

They reached the library, which had the secret basement already opened. Without speaking they descended down and went through the door to the control room. Several large monitors were set up showing all sorts of data and calculations. One of them even had a diagram of Sora. Knowing what would happen, Angelina nervously sneaked into a corner.

Meanwhile, Roxas was examining the screens, another headache building. Bigger than any he’d had before. He crumpled over as the rest of his memories returned to him, the ones from back when he was still in Organization XIII. Then, looking at the monitors in hatred, Roxas summoned his Keyblade and proceeded to beat the computer system without mercy. By the time he was done, only one or two of them were flickering and a metal door slid open.

He breathed heavily for a few minutes, venting out the rest of his anger, then muttered, “How much did you know?”

“Everything.” She couldn’t lie to him anymore, not like this.

“And you were leading me to here… every step of the way?”

“To be honest,” Angelina started, “both yes and no. I was just letting everything go the way it was supposed to be.”

“But you could have changed something.” The anger began to rise again in his voice. “You could have told me.”

“Yes, I could have.” Her voice was starting to shake. “But what would you have done any differently if I had?”

“What do you mean by that?! I could have-”

“You would have tried to leave this fake town. To do that, you would have had to confront DiZ to demand a way out. And he would have found a way to lead you back here. It always ends here.”

At this point Roxas was trying to come up with the right answer. “But what about Axel?”

“Even though you’re good friends, Axel would have just taken you back to the Organization. There’s no way you would have agreed to that.”

Out of options, Roxas fell silent.

Feeling guilty, Angelina tried a new approach. “Roxas, I wasn’t doing this to help you… disappear or anything like that! If I could do something about what’s going to happen next, I would. I mean it! The only reason I went through this with you was because I wanted to get to know you. Ever since I first knew about you, I wanted to be your friend!”

There was another long silence.

“…Angel?”

“Yes?”

“Promise me one thing.” Now Roxas was the one who sounded shaky.

“Anything.”

“I don’t want to know what happens next. I think that would be for the best. But if something does happen to me, like if I disappear or something, I want you to remember me. Other than Axel, no one else is gonna bother.”

Angelina let out a small laugh. “Believe me, you’re hard to forget. It’s a promise.”

Together they entered the next room. The place was entirely packed with Nobodies, both Dusks and a new breed Angelina didn’t know the name of. Roxas took them on, still a bit frustrated from before, and Angelina even helped by focusing on the Keyblade and punching. Once the room was cleared Axel walked in, arms crossed.

“Simply amazing, Roxas,” he mocked.

“Axel,” Roxas acknowledged, no bluffing this time.

“You really do remember me this time? I'm **SO FLATTERED**.” At these last words flames licked up the walls in response to his anger, trapping them in the fire-based arena. “But you're too late!!”

Concentrating, Roxas managed to split the Keyblade in two. If she remembered correctly, one was Oathkeeper and the other, Oblivion.

“Two!?” Axel sounded impressed. He summoned his chakram in a burst of fire. “Come here. I'll make it all stop.”

It was a battle worthy of the record book. Axel was not holding back, even resorting to turning the floor beneath them to magma. Angelina was having trouble finding a safe place to stand. At the same time, Roxas was showing off moves he wasn’t able to use before, forcing Axel to back down. Duel swordsmanship really seemed to suite him. In the end, Axel was the one pinned to the floor.

“Roxas...” The flames dissipated and Axel began to fade away.

“Axel...”

“Let's meet again in the next life,” he said, his voice beginning to fail.

Roxas nodded. “Yeah. I'll be waiting.”

“Silly. Just because you have a next life...” Axel disappeared before he could finish.

Paying their respects, though Angelina suspected this wasn’t the last of him, they went to the next room. It started as a hallway, with one wall lined up with lotus-shaped pods. In two of the pods there stood two very familiar figures.

Roxas’s eyes widened in recognition. “...Donald ...Goofy?”

“Wow…” Angelina almost whispered. “You don’t know _how_ weird this is for me…”

He stared at her. “Weird for you? Do you realize how long these guys have been in my dreams?”

She smirked. “I’ll just call it even.”

They moved on into a room so white it was hard to tell where it ended. In the center was an even larger cryogenic pod, where unmistakable spiky hair was silhouetted. Standing next to it was a very pleased DiZ. “At last, the Keyblade's chosen one. And an Interference, as well.”

Roxas ignored that last part. “Who are you talking to? Me? Or Sora?”

“To half of Sora, of course,” he said as if that were obvious. “You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII.”

“Why?” Roxas demanded. “Who are you?”

“I am a servant of the world.” The man laughed as though he found himself quite comical. “And if I'm a servant, then you should consider yourself a tool, at best.”

“Was that...was that supposed to be a joke?” he growled, conjuring the Keyblade. “'Cause I'm not laughing!”

Roxas charged forward, dealing what should have been a deadly blow. Instead, the blade simply fazed though him, creating data streams.

“My apologies. This is only a data-based projection,” said DiZ smugly.

This only enraged him more, causing him to strike DiZ over and over again. While he did that, Angelina gathered what courage she had and shouted, “You sick _coward!!_ You torment him while you sit safely at a computer monitor miles away! If you’re going to involve Roxas in your ‘Grande Scheme’ at least give him an opportunity to fight you face to face!!!”

When Roxas started to catch his breath, a new hologram generated behind him. “Unfortunately, Interference, the matters I’m involved in are far greater than your petty ‘revenge game,’” DiZ motioned to Roxas, teasingly. “Come, over here.”

Roxas gave his fiercest glare. “I hate you so much...”

DiZ smirked. “You should share some of that hatred with Sora. He's far too nice for his own good.”

“No! My heart belongs to me!” With a last desperate effort Roxas slashed the hologram out of existence.

Angelina’s voice grew soft. “You’re right, no matter what happens you will always be you. I will always remember you as you are.”

He turned to her and gave a small smile. She could tell it was forced, but didn’t blame him. “Thanks…”

They were both interrupted by the sound of large mechanical parts in motion. The front ‘petals’ on the pod unfolded, revealing the boy inside. The clothes were a bit too small, but he was still easily recognizable by his spiky brown locks and bright red uniform. The usual bright blue eyes and carefree smile were absent, as he was comatose.

“Sora...” they both whispered.

Roxas stepped up, prepared for his fate. He looked up into the pod with great sadness upon his face. There was a trace of tears. “You're lucky. Looks like my summer vacation is...over.”

Roxas faded into nothingness and the pod snapped closed again. All that was left was a small tear stain on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This scene was, honestly, such a pleasure to write. At least, at the time. I tried my best to connect to the character, and I'll admit it still gets me a little emotional if I think about it too hard. It's especially nostalgic because during my first playthrough of KHII I finished the Roxas segment on the last week of summer break. I was teary for more than one reason (I did NOT want to go back to school).
> 
> The first part of the scene was interesting too. Not only is Roxas the one serving as our POV, it's another example of the world of The Interference connecting with the one I was writing. Which was pretty neat, to me. ((Hint: he was also the one wandering around the building earlier!)) Of course this is the last time we'll be feeling the mystique of Alexander Karsath, since we're going to meet him in the flesh for the first time next scene. Then you'll quickly wish you hadn't (alright, I'm teasing!).
> 
> I never really got why Axel "dies" in the scene, but comes back later? Whatever, I'm chalking it up to dramatics on his part. Also: THE MOST DEADLY GAME OF 'THE FLOOR IS NOW LAVA' EVER PLAYED!!!!
> 
> Also also, I get that DiZ is technically not a bad guy, but I think we can all agree he's hella pretentious. And a giant prick. And hell, even Ansem was kind of a dick. You can tell how I feel about this scene, can't you?


	11. Sora (Part 1)

Alexander Karsath was having what was perhaps the best moment of his life. He had just awakened two major icons from his childhood, Donald and Goofy. Donald seemed to be suspicious of him, but hopefully over time he could explain himself.

They had just entered the next room, where they saw a strange girl standing in front of a massive pod. She noticed their presence and turned to them, hastily wiping her face with her sleeve. Goofy saw that something was amiss about her behavior. “Were you cryin’ just now?”

“N-no! It’s just allergies,” she sniffed. Her voice was strained and her eyes were still red, but she managed to gain control of herself.

Donald took the more skeptic approach. First this Alex guy shows up while they were asleep in this strange place and now this girl was found in front of Sora’s pod. “And just who are _you?"_

The girl shifted nervously, the full realization of the situation crashing down on her. “Um, I’m Angelina de Castellano. I was investigating the basement of the haunted mansion with a friend. He ran off and then… I sort of just found this place.” She turned to Alex, who was only just recognizing her. “You’re Alexander, right? We met once before.”

He nodded, unsure of what to say.

Goofy looked at the pod and asked, “Y'think Sora's in here?”

Alex obviously knew, but he went over to the side of it where there was a control panel and inspected it. “I’ll bet,” he started, walking back to the main group. “There's someone in here, at least. Probably Sora.”

“Is he a friend of yours?” asked Angelina. “Maybe we can wake him, somehow…”

Taking that notion in stride, Donald and Goofy tried by yelling.

“Sora!”

“Sora, wake up!”

A silence, everyone held their breath waiting to see what would happen. Just when they had started to give up hope, the whir of machinery could be heard and the front petals opened up. The occupant inside stumbled, regaining his footing before it was too late. Angelina had already seen him once, but watching Sora stretch and yawn was a new amazement in itself. Donald and Goofy chuckled in amusement, catching his attention.

“Donald! Goofy!” Sora leaped out of the pod and nearly knocked over his friends in an embrace.

After a small reunion celebration, Jiminy poked his head out from Sora’s hood and stretched, yawning. “That was some nap!”

Turning to the source of the voice to glance at him, Sora asked in confusion, “You mean… we were asleep?”

“I guess we musta been,” he replied, shrugging, “or I don’t think we’d be so drowsy.”

“When do you think we went to sleep?” asked Goofy, making everyone think.

Unfortunately, none of them seemed to have an idea. Donald was trying to find a logical explanation to this, but nothing was coming to him. “Uhh…” He glanced in the direction of Alex and Angelina, who had sub-consciously migrated to a corner of the room. “Do you have any idea?”

As the words left his mouth all heads turned in their direction. Sora, who was completely unaware they were there, jerked back a little in surprise. Both newcomers fidgeted nervously when he asked, “Hmm? Who are you guys?”

Alex was the first to take action, holding out his hand. “Hi there. You must be… Sora, right? I’m Alexander.”

Angelina did a kind of halfway bow, which was completely out of her style. “Um…hi, I’m Angelina. Like I said before to your friends, I only found you guys a little while ago. I’m sure the story’s the same for Alex, so there’s no way either of us could know how you got down here.”

Nodding, Sora took Alex’s hand and shook. “Alright, nice to meet’cha,” he said, grabbing Angelina’s hand next. There was a sharp intake of breath from her as she felt his warmth. Glancing back at his friends, he said, “Could you… excuse us for a moment?”

Alex nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”

The two stood back as Sora and the others had a hushed discussion. Standing so close to Alex, Angelina felt something like a cold swipe of wind, which was odd as she couldn’t feel much temperature. It was a lot like that dream she had of him, not nearly as intense but definitely noticeable. Come to think of it, when Sora had been near she had felt a glowing warmth from him, almost overbearing. Glancing up at Alex, it seemed he hadn’t noticed in the slightest.

“Um, so I’m guessing you don’t belong here either, then?” Angelina said, not sure how to begin with this stranger.

“Hmm?” Alex had been watching the others, having clearly memorized the script. “I guess you could say that. I assume you came here the same way I did. A bright flash of light while playing the game?”

“Actually, I was reading the manga,” she corrected.

“The manga? Have you never played the game?”

“No, not really. I wanted to, but my brother wouldn’t let me. I probably wouldn’t have been too good at it anyway, you’ll be much more useful than me.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, you won’t know until you try.” There was a small silence, so he tried again. “So you met Roxas? That must have been fun while it lasted.”

She gave a hollow laugh. “Yeah, but as you know he’s now with Sora. I kind of wish I was on your side, at least you got to meet the real Hayner, Pence, and Olette. By the looks of it, you were good friends. I never even got that far with the copies.”

Before he could reply, the others had finished their discussion. Goofy called back, “Okay, you two, you can come back now!”

As they wandered over, Donald gestured to Alex and told Sora, “He says we're in a place called Twilight Town, and this is in the basement of an old mansion.”

Sora looked over at Alex for conformation. “Really?” When he nodded in reply Sora said with excitement, “Whoa... That makes it even  _more_  mysterious...”

“Well, tell you what. I'll lead you back into town, and you guys can find your bearings from there,” Alexander suggested.

“Alright,” Sora agreed, nodding. “Sure you can’t show us around some?”

He shrugged. “Nah, I've got... some stuff to take care of. Maybe I'll catch up with you guys later.”

“Well, I’m free,” said Angelina. “Maybe I could-”

“You’re coming with me, then.”

“But-” She faltered when she caught his look. It said that this was something she had to do. “Fine, I’ll go.”

Alex started for the door. “Anyway, just follow me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Alex has finally arrived to steal the show. It's kind of his number one character trait...that and being a giant know-it-all. That's okay though, in small doses. My main problem with the original fanfiction though, is that he usually ended up being the go-to problem solver for nearly every situation, so the other characters had a hard time getting their word in. But that too is okay, for this kind of story. The entire point of stories like this is to make the people who write them feel, maybe for once in their life, that they have control over something, and everyone needs to feel that way sometimes.
> 
> Also! Sora's here!! God I love Sora. He's the kind of upbeat, self-guided character that I can never seem to write (and desperately want to). But no, most of my main characters are the apathetic type, who's main driving force is finding purpose in the first place...meh, I guess that's okay too. Please don't ask me to choose between Roxas and Sora. I mean...in the end I'm going to choose Sora, but it will be a very upsetting journey!


	12. Sora (Part 2)

There was little conversation on the way back. The moment they came out of the forest Alex started on his separate way, motioning for Angelina to follow. As soon as Sora, Donald, and Goofy were out of earshot she asked, “Shouldn’t we be following them? Where are we going?”

Glancing back, Alex answered, “Like I said, we’re going to catch up later. They need to go through that part without us. In the meantime, we should get prepared. Isn’t there something you might need to do at your house?”

Angelina thought about it. They had arrived at his apartment, the one that had been mysteriously empty. “Honestly, no. I guess I’ll just wait for you on the stairs.”

She didn’t have to wait long, soon they were off again. When they reached the bulletin board Alex stopped suddenly, causing Angelina to almost run into him.

“Hey, what-” Then she saw what he was looking at. A short figure in an Organization coat with unmistakable large round ears. She only had a moment to take in his image before he bolted up the road to the station. Reacting immediately, Alex charged after him.

“Wait up!” Angelina hated running, but there wasn’t time to walk.

By the time they had gotten to the station both were out of breath and they had lost the mysterious figure. They were only just catching their breaths when a voice shouted out behind them. “Hey, Alex! Angel!"

They turned to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy coming up behind them. Angelina was slightly miffed that Sora had already nicknamed her. He went up to Alex and said, “Can we ask you something?”

Obviously he hadn’t expected that, but instead of showing it he replied, “Okay, shoot.”

The three looked a bit weary, like they were also searching for someone. Donald stepped forward assertively and began, “Well, how is it you know about-?”

However, it seemed the question would have to wait. In a flash of light and sound a Dusk had appeared behind Alex. Used to this type of situation, he turned around swiftly and backed up before the rest could react. As more popped up he growled, “Why _now_ of all times?!”

The others were puzzled by the statement, but instead of questioning they took a defensive formation around the two non-player characters. As they brought out their respective weapons Alex looked confused. After all, by now he could easily hold his own against Dusks, but there was no way they could know that.

Sora summoned the infamous Keyblade in a flash of light as he studied his adversary. They didn’t look like any kind of Heartless he’s ever seen, but that didn’t matter. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of them!” he reassured.

But Alexander wasn’t going to take that. Pushing himself to the frontlines, he held out a hand where a dark smoke gathered, dissipating to reveal the Lockshield. Needless to say, the trio was shocked. “What’s _that_?!” asked Goofy in amazement.

The Dusks were making their move. Alex raised his guard. “Later! They’re coming!”

No time to think. Everyone picked a target, Donald starting off with a Thunder spell, zapping the enemy into a stupor. While he was preoccupied, an Assassin Nobody took its chance to strike, only to be blocked by Goofy’s shield. Neither of the opponents were damaged but the Assassin Nobody was forced to reveal itself, ruining its one advantage. Sora then used that opportunity to deliver the final blow.

Having fought them for the last six days and memorizing the Nobodies strategies, Alex was certainly the most experienced member of the group. He took down the Dusk Donald had shocked earlier and immediately after bashed a Creeper into oblivion. As he clashed swords (so to speak) with another Creeper, Angelina saw a movement in the corner of her view.

Turning just in time, she was able to get out of the range of the Dusk that had snuck up behind her. Before Angelina could even get a good look at it the Nobody lunged. Panicking, she threw out a right handed full-twist punch. Miraculously, it struck right in the creature’s face, throwing it backwards away from her. Not understanding the phrase ‘tactical retreat’, the Dusk was about to attack again when it was intercepted and destroyed by Sora.

They regrouped, all back-to-back in a guarded circle. Though they had defeated many, more and more Nobodies were appearing. Everyone was wiped out excluding Alex, who had the most stamina, and Angelina, who had only thrown one punch. The new wave of Dusks surged forward and just as they thought they might not make it… A short figure in black dropped in front of Alex and slashed apart the oncoming Dusk. One strike per foe, the armada was taken down at record breaking speeds.

When the battlefield was deserted they all took to staring at the newcomer. For very different reasons. It was the mysterious figure from earlier, brandishing a Keyblade much like Sora’s with reversed coloring. Everyone instantly recognized him. Donald leaned forward, hardly believing it. “Your Majesty?”

The long lost King kept his head bent, face out of sight. “Shh! You gotta board the train and leave town! The train knows the way! And take Alexander and Angelina with you – you all need each other.” He fumbled in his pocket, finally pulling out and embroidered pouch and held it out for Sora to take. “Here.”

After a moment of pause, Sora accepted the pouch. Before anyone could register it, the king ran off in the direction he had come from. Donald shouted after him. “Your Majesty!”

Sora pondered, looking after him. “The king…was that really him?”

“It coulda been…” said Goofy, thinking. “Yep, I know it was!”

That made Donald a little more relived. “Now we know he’s okay!”

“The King was locked in the realm of darkness, right?” asked Sora, unsure of his memories since waking up. Goofy nodded. “But we just saw him.” Donald nodded. “And if the King is here... that means Riku's here!”

“He’s gotta be!” agreed Donald.

“But, uh... Didn't the King say that we all had to get onto the train?” asked Alex, trying to get them back on plot.

The trio looked at him with suspicion. “Right,” Donald muttered, remembering, “that question we wanted to ask you...”

“Yeah?” he said, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

Sora sighed. "...Now there's a lot more questions." Shaking his head, he looked to Donald and Goofy and said, "Well, I'm gonna go look for Riku. Then he and I can go back to the islands together. Kairi's there waiting for us! What are you two gonna do?"

Donald and Goofy looked at him seriously. “Gawrsh, Sora,” said Goofy like it couldn’t have been more obvious. “Do ya have to ask?”

Sora burst out laughing, Alex struggling to contain his. Donald, sticking to the serious bit, shouted, “Hey! What’s so funny!?”

“Your face!” laughed Sora, pointing. Donald and Goofy glanced at each other and, unable to handle the sudden staring contest, joined in with the laughter. “What do ya say, guys? Let's stick together for one more journey.”

Both of them nodded, excited.

Satisfied with that reply, Sora turned to Alex and Angelina. “And...if the King says you're coming with us, then I guess it's okay.”

Even though they heard it themselves they were both taken aback by the statement. After all, neither were expecting him to say it without some sort of objection. Regaining his composure faster, Alex cleared his throat. “Well, let’s board the train, then.”

Sora grinned and took that as a signal to run ahead. “Alright, c’mon!”

“Whoa!” Alex cried out, getting caught off guard and left behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wait, is this...an honest-to-goodness fight scene?? If you couldn't tell, I was pretty much phoning in the fight scenes until this point, but that was mostly because there were just so. many. pointless. dusk fights! Even so, this one in particular was mostly a "clever" rewording of what had happened in The Interference (plus one punch by Angelina). In later fight scenes I try to experiment more on my own, which helps a lot when Angelina starts fighting more in general. Can you believe I wrote over 120 pages of this and she STILL doesn't have her weapon?? If I ever decide to write more, I hope it's worth the wait...


	13. Sora (Part 3)

“Wait up!”

They had just gotten to the ticket booth when someone had called out to them. Hayner and the others ran up, with obvious recognition of Alexander. Pence looked at the others, processing the information. “Alex, are you going with them?”

Alex nodded and Sora asked him, “You know them already?”

Hayner took the question. “Yeah, he’s a good friend of ours.” He looked at Sora, as if trying to figure something out. “Hey, Sora…”

“What?”

He shook his head dismissively. “Nothing, but…”

“We came to see you and Alex off,” answered Pence. “It just…seemed like something we oughta do.”

Alex smiled. “Thanks, guys.”

A bell sounded, making all heads turn. The train was making its last call. “You should hurry and get your tickets,” said Olette.

“Right!” Sora realized, shuffling over to the ticket booth. He pulled out the pouch the king had given to him earlier. “Five tickets, please!”

As he handed over the munny, Olette inspected the pouch curiously. “Huh?”

“What is it?” asked Donald, first to notice.

She pulled out her own identical munny pouch.

Goofy looked closer. “They’re the same.”

“Yeah!” agreed Olette, horribly confused.

The price paid, Sora and the others walked to the trains. There were two, one of the standard issue orange trains and one Angelina recognized as the Ghost Train.

“I can’t help feeling…like we won’t see this town again,” said Sora, his back turn to the rest.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette shot Alex a suspicious look and he flinched guiltily.

“You’re thinkin’ too much,” Goofy reassured.

Sora shook his head and grinned. “Yeah, you’re right!”

He, Donald, Goofy, and Angelina gave the train a closer inspection, allowing Alex to have a private conversation with his friends. When it looked like they were done, Angelina called him over. “Hey, Alex! We’re ready!”

The four of them ran up the stairs for a final goodbye. “Okay, let’s go!” said Sora, as the others began to board the train. He glanced at Hayner, Pence, and Olette. “Bye.”

Hayner put a hand up to his chin, pondering. “Hey Sora, you _sure_ we haven’t met before?”

Sora studied him quizzically. “Positive, why do you ask?”

He and Alex shared a look, so Hayner went with, “I dunno.”

Unexpectedly, a tear had escaped Sora. “Huh?” He hurriedly rubbed his face on his sleeve, but the others had noticed.

“You okay?” asked Olette.

“Y-yeah. Don’t know where it came from…”

Hayner smirked. “Pull it together!”

Sora straitened, nodding. “Right… See ya.”

At that, Sora and Angelina went in to find Donald and Goofy. Not too long after, Alex made his way in and the train was off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, our first three-parter. You may notice that the chapters get significantly longer post-Twilight Town.
> 
> This would probably be very touching if we had seen Alex's side of the story. Or even Sora's. But no, you saw Angelina's. Bummer.


	14. Sora (Part 4)

The silence was very awkward for Angelina, as all silences were. She and Alex had distanced themselves and she was now contemplating on starting a conversation. But what does one say when in a train with companions who had just fought ‘monsters’ together and had never met before (or at least, had never met her).

Sora and Alex had coincidentally pulled out their prized blue crystals at the same time. Fortunately, Alex had caught Sora’s movement and hastily shoved his in his pocket before questions could be asked.

Just when Angelina thought she might go insane, Sora spoke up, “You know…I’m sad.”

“We’ll be back,” Donald tried to reassure.

Goofy joined in. “Yeah, we can visit Hayner and those guys again.”

“Yeah,” said Alex, drawing attention to himself. “It’ll be good to see my friends again.”

Donald’s eyes narrowed at him, remembering something. “So, Alex, we’ve got a few questions to ask you. Come to think of it, you’re pretty suspicious yourself, Angel.”

Angelina looked around, expecting that they’d completely forgotten about her. Alex just tried to shrink, but it didn’t work. “Alright,” he said, with heavy reluctance. “Go ahead.”

Not wasting time, Donald got right to the point. “How do you know about the other worlds!?”

They were both taken aback by that. He asked nervously, “Oh, um… Did I say ‘world’ back there?”

Angelina smacked her head. “Next time, be more careful.”

Sora’s eyes widened. “So you knew too, Angel? Exactly how much do you guys know?”

“And why did the King know ya?” asked Goofy.

Alex did not take well to being bombarded by questions. He held his hands up in defense. “Whoa, whoa! Hold it! Just give us a sec!”

“Yes,” said Angelina. “One at a time.” She turned to Alex. “Umm…what _do_ we know?”

He paused, gathering his thoughts, then began, “Well, I’ll admit that we know more than any normal person should. But, to be honest, I don’t know… well, _why_ we’re here.

“As for the King,” he continued. “We actually haven’t met him before now. Heard of him, sure, but never met personally. So how the heck he knows **us** is a mystery to me as well. There’s a few questions I want answered as well. And I hope I’ll be able to get them answered where we’re going.”

“Where _are_ we going?” Donald asked in exhaustion just as the background changed drastically. For a second Angelina thought it was nighttime, but then realized it was actually space, interlaced with the aurora borealis. She and Alex immediately went to the window for some gawking while the others weren’t as easily impressed.

Once Alex had remembered that they were adventurers, and therefore more jaded to this type of thing, he slumped back into his seat slightly embarrassed. Then a thought occurred to him. “Hey, Angel.”

“Huh?” She wasn’t paying attention, for the first time in long while she was impressed with the scenery. “What is it?”

“You don’t have a weapon, do you.”

Her head swiveled around in surprise, tinted pink. “Ah…no.”

“Any idea why you don’t have one?” he asked. His voice was low, so the others couldn’t listen in. “I got the Lockshield almost immediately, so the way things have been going you should have gotten something.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t do much fighting. It was all for Roxas, so I didn’t have to. And whenever I did, there was nothing to grab so I used my fists.”

“I wonder if you can even get anything, just from being here, or if I’m the only one…”

“I asked myself a similar question after I saw your Lockshield. But whether or not I can obtain a weapon in any form can’t be determined until an opportunity has shown itself.”

Neither had much to add to that, so the rest of the trip was spent in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the scene where Alex and Angel both show what egg-heads they are. Hm...Alex and Angel? That has a nice ring, but too bad future me ruined it by making it 'Alex and Emil'. Not as good. Erica and Emil, though? Perfection <3


	15. Sora (Part 5)

Eventually the train squealed to a stop. Impossibly, the stop was a floating island in space. The doors slid open and the KH trio followed closely by Angelina stepped down onto land. Angelina turned around to see that Alex was still in the doorway, eyeing the inch-sized gap between the train and safety.

“You okay?” she asked, noticing his reluctance.

“It’s fine…” he said like he didn’t want to have to be asked. He stepped down and followed the others.

In front of them stood a very crooked tower, the kind Angelina would have liked to live in. As they craned their necks to see the top the train pulled away, leaving green glowing tracks behind. Sora tried to laugh the general nervousness out. “There goes our ride…”

Alex glanced at Sora, then at the empty space the train had occupied. “Don’t worry, we’re fine where we are…as long as we watch our step.”

“Good thing no one has ever died of falling in this universe…” Angelina said to herself in a half-laugh.

Meanwhile, Sora asked Alex, “How do you know that?”

He sighed. “Look, I explained as much as I could on the way _here_. I don’t know all about it myself.” He continued ahead. “Let’s just keep moving.”

But someone had beaten them to it. As with any castle-like structure, the front was a set of wide stairs leading to an unnecessarily large door. Which was good planning, if someone like this guy ever decided to visit. He seemed to be a very large, very fat cat, who was a biped like Donald and Goofy. He wore a deep blue jumpsuit that matched his girth, and over all he was very Disney.

“What’s goin’ on?” asked Donald, as the new character tried to peer through a crack in the door.

He laughed in a deep, almost comical, voice. “Hehehe… I sent some of my lackeys inside to see if the master of this here tower’s as big and tough as they say,” He obviously wasn’t very attentive, telling the heroes that he was breaking and entering. “Word is, he’s a real powerful sorcerer. Which would make him the perfect bodyguard for me. See, it doesn’t matter how tough he is. Once he’s a Heartless, he’ll do as I say!”

Everyone went defensive at that. “A _Heartless?!_ ” Donald squawked.

“That’s right,” the cat continued. “They’re those things that come outta the darkness in folks’ hearts. Why, with all those Heartless at her side, my dear friend Maleficent is gonna conquer everything!”

Alex chuckled to himself. “You’re not very smart, are you? You don’t seem to have thought this through much.”

That irked him a little. “Not much to it. I’ve got me a dept to pay, I’m goin’ round to a bunch of different worlds and buildin’ an _army_ of Heartless, special for her. Why am I talkin’ to you pipsqueaks anyway? Go on, scram! I’m behind schedule as it is.”

He shrugged. “Well, as I said, haven’t thought it through very much. Let’s see, you’ve apparently forgotten that…simple Shadow and Soldier types aren’t much good against a powerful sorcerer, and…the Heartless aren’t too particular about who they work for, and…”

Goofy decided to interrupt him. “Point is, you oughta find somethin’ nicer to do”

“Besides that,” added Angelina, “just who _do_ you assume you’re talking to? I mean, obviously you haven’t figured out who we really are, I get that. But isn’t all of that information confidential anyway? Even if we were just random strangers, you would still be in trouble for telling us all that.”

That got him. At last, he swiveled around. “Wha… **aaah!** It’s you!”

“Pete?!” shouted Donald and Goofy in confusion.

“What are you two nimrods doin’ here?!”

“What are **you** doing here?!”

Sora just looked confused. “You know him?”

“We sure do!” answered Goofy. “Pete’s been causin’ trouble for ages! His Majesty banished him to another dimension a long time ago. I wonder how he escaped.”

Pete laughed evilly. “Mwehehehahaha! You wanna know how, eh? Well, Maleficent busted me out, that’s how! And know your world-no, no, no, _all_ the worlds-are gonna belong to yours truly!”

Angelina snickered. “Thank you, now we have your motive! You really need to learn to attack first and answer questions later.”

Alex put in his own retort. “Like I said, you’ve also forgotten one more thing. The fact that Maleficent was toasted nearly a whole _year_ ago.”

 _“Huh?!”_ everybody said, in shock.

After a moment of confusion, Pete rounded down on them. “You!! So _you’re_ the ones that did it!”

Alex held up his hands in defense. “Hey, not me. Them.”

“Hey!” objected Sora.

“Wait, was I included in that?” asked Angelina.

But Pete wasn’t listening. “Heartless Squad! Round up!”

Several Shadow Heartless rose up from the ground. As the others drew their weapons Angelina stared at them wide eyed. They were too cute, she knew she might have trouble helping.

After only taking a moment to survey his enemies, Alex immediately went to one side to catch the minions off guard. Donald fired off a Thunder spell, incinerating a couple instantly. Goofy and Sora worked as a duo, Goofy in front bashing the Heartless with his shield while Sora took care of the ones left behind. Angelina, feeling useless as all the other Heartless were take, tried to look for any rouge shadows.

Sora took a swipe at the last Shadow, but he missed. The Shadow went for Alex, who was already dealing with two others. He hadn’t noticed it come up behind him, so Donald used another Thunder to strike it out. Alex was startled, but otherwise unharmed.

Pete, having witnessed the speed of their assault, jumped up and down to vent his anger. “Just you wait! Nobody, and I do mean _nobody_ , messes with the Mighty Pete!”

“Nobody, huh?” muttered Alex, smirking to himself.

“So, ‘Mighty’ Pete,” mocked Sora. “Who lives in this tower, anyway?”

“Oh, ya don’t know, eh? Well it’s old Yen Sid. ‘Course, he’s probably a Heartless by now,” said Pete with the utmost confidence.

Alex wasn’t convinced. With a roll of his eyes he continued his lecture. “I’ll say it again, shadows versus a powerful wizard? Not exactly what I’d call good odds.”

Angelina raised an eyebrow. “You just love tormenting this guy, don’t ya.” To her surprise, he nodded.

However, the side commentary went unnoticed by Donald who exclaimed, “Master Yen Sid lives here?!” He rushed to the doors, completely ignoring the little threat the overgrown cat posed in blocking it.

“Yen Sid is the King’s teacher!” Goofy added in explanation, also excited.

“Wow, sounds powerful!” said Sora, earning Goofy’s nod of agreement.

Angelina didn’t blame them. After all, anyone who could teach King Mickey must’ve been quite impressive in his time and to even be acknowledged as a powerful sorcerer by someone as thickheaded as Pete would mean that he was still a formidable opponent. Even if that same Pete had assumed that he could be taken down by mere grunts it still meant something, it was a classic henchman mistake.

They all hurried after Donald, bypassing Pete entirely. Alex paused for one last quip. “Probably a lot more powerful than the blundering bloke here.”

He ran off after the others, hiding a smirk as the blown-up Disney character hopped up and down on his stubby legs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I will be the first to admit it. This is the absolute worst scene, both here and in The Interference. Alex and Angel are just being smug lil shits the whole time, and Alex those jokes are pretty bad. In fact, I'm pretty sure this was the scene where I just stopped writing this completely for a couple of years, it was just that groan-inducing.
> 
> But! There is a bright side. We've passed the halfway point, folks. Only sixty more pages to go (until we catch up with the most recent stuff, that is)! And I can say with some shaky certainty that the quality improves from this point on.
> 
> Also, another reference to Alex's acrophobia. Take a shot!


	16. Gearing Up (Part 1)

The moment Goofy had closed the massive doors behind them Donald had turned on Alex with newfound suspicion. “So you know about our fight with Maleficent, too?” he squawked.

Sora nodded, evidently wanting some answers as well. “Why’d you say it was a whole year ago?”

Alex groaned in general frustration. “Good grief! I already said it. I do know a lot of these key details, but there’s a lot about how I know that I _don’t_ know. I’m hoping that the wizard in this tower might be able to answer some of those questions, so just wait until then.”

In the short silence that followed the groups’ attention was drawn to Goofy, who was humming thoughtfully. It seemed like something had been bugging him for a while. “Well, I think there’s a question you can answer for us…” he mused, stepping towards Alexander. “Can I see your shield for a moment?”

Taken aback by the sudden request, he held out his hand and allowed the weapon to materialize. “Sure, go ahead.”

Goofy drew his own shield, studying and comparing the two with esteemed precision like he was in his realm of expertise. None of these behaviors were characteristic for him, so needless to say the others were speechless. Doubly so for Donald, who had known him the longest.

Finally, he gave his report. “Well, from what I can tell, your shield is a bit smaller and lighter than mine. And then there’s that blade around the edge, so it seems better made for attacking. But the shape and curve are mostly the same.”

Donald, bewildered by the stream of words that had just come from his friend’s mouth, inspected the smaller shield a little closer. “We’ve seen this mark on the Heartless, right?”

Sora checked to confirm it when he spotted another detail. “What’s this keyhole here for?”

“Wonder if the Keyblade can unlock it, or something…” Angelina muttered to herself.

“Alright, alright,” said Alex, pulling the Lockshield back before Angelina could take it apart. “It’s called the Lockshield. Sounds kinda like the Keyblade, I know. That’s because it _is_ kinda like the Keyblade. Except it’s dark where the Keyblade is light, hence the Heartless symbol. And it has the keyhole because it’s sorta like a lock, while the Keyblade is a key.”

As everyone took that in Sora muttered, “Lockshield, huh? So, equals and opposites, basically?”

Nodding, he banished his weapon back to the darkness. “That’s the idea, but that’s pretty much all I know. I’m pretty sure there’s more to it, but…well, I’m hoping that Yen Sid can help me out here. I’ve only had the thing for five or six days now.”

The KH trio was incredulous. Goofy was the first to say anything. “Six days?! You’ve been fighting for only that long?”

Alex averted their eyes, looking embarrassed. “And that’s just about all the experience I have. From the battles we’ve been in so far, it seems you guys have a lot more experience and skill than I do. Heck, I’m pretty much just still learning.”

Angelina raised her hand nervously like she was in class, having not spoken much up this point. “Me too, I’m not even all that good at kung-fu.”

Donald’s beak smirked. “We were there too, once. We could tell.”

As Sora and Goofy laughed at the thought of their cadet days, Sora glanced at Angelina. “So you don’t have a weapon?”

She nodded, looking ashamed. “Yes, I’ve only really had three or four fights and they were all barehanded. Since light and dark are covered, there really isn’t much left.”

Alex sighed. “We’ll have to do something about that, maybe we can get you something at the next world. Well, let’s get going anyway. It’s either forward or back toward Pete.”

No one choosing the latter option, everyone started forward to yet more stairs. Only a few steps up their path was blocked by a multi-colored dimensional rift. Taking the miraculous transportation device for granted Donald marched through it head first, followed closely by Goofy and Sora.

Angelina and Alexander faltered, unused to the wonders of magic. Alex was the first to shake himself out of it, beginning to walk forward. “We’re probably going to see this kind of thing a lot; soon it won’t be as impressive.”

“It’s a shame we don’t have the time to study it…” muttered Angelina in awe, also forcing herself to move.

After a moment’s hesitation, they both took the plunge. It was less than a second to get to their destination, the portal disappearing behind them. They were on yet another staircase, bright blue steps transcending into space above them. Sora and the others were already ahead but they stopped to stare.

“You guys, Heartless!” shouted down Donald, bringing them back to attention.

Springing into action the duo sprinted up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think that the author of The Interference and I see Goofy the same way. The KH games hinted at this, but I always saw Goofy as the type of character with low Intelligence, but high Wisdom to make up for it. In fact, the main three kind of have this DND character-trait theme going on: Sora=Charisma, Donald=Intellegence, and Goofy=Wisdom. I dunno, I think that dynamic is pretty fascinating (three-way character dynamics are THE BEST, to be honest).
> 
> So yeah, to me this translates to Goofy having moments of profundity like this and completely scaring the crap out of everyone. However, he really shines when it comes to understanding the inner workings of people, which he's shown a bit to us already (and more later!). Because let's be honest, despite the fact that Sora's a social butterfly he really kind of sucks at reading people.
> 
> What does that mean for Alex and Angel, then? Maybe they're each a combination of two stats, like Alex=INT+CHA and Angel=INT+WIS. Does that mean Erica=WIS+CHA? idk
> 
> Also: yes, Angelina's been totally using kung-fu this whole time. Her experience is equal to mine (for obvious reasons), and I learned several years of taekwondo and kung-fu, plus one year of kendo and a failed karate class. But it all adds up to shit when you stop practicing at home. I think I represent her lack of expertise pretty well here, though.


	17. Gearing Up (Part 2)

Fighting in such a narrow space as a staircase wasn’t fun. They went up almost single-file in pairs, Alex and Sora in front as the main fighters, Donald squished in the middle, and Goofy and Angelina in the back.

The Alex/Sora team got most of the action while Donald acted as back up. Angelina and Goofy took care of any stragglers that made their way to the back, though Angelina suspected Goofy was only there as her guard. Not having a weapon felt worse now that she had to be protected because of it, like she was holding them back.

She got more action in the Sun and Moon rooms where there was more space to fight on her own. Even then she would occasionally catch one of the others watching out for her but that was okay. In any case it was great experience. Her punches seemed to hit harder and she could even pull off kicks too, plus she didn’t tire as fast. She could even take on one or two of the new Heartless Soldiers that appeared in the Moon Room.

Of course, all this fighting wasn’t improving the moral of the others as much. As the last Heartless disappeared Donald stomped in frustration. “Heartless, Heartless, Heartless! Things haven't changed one bit!”

“Well, it's a good thing we're on the job, then,” said Goofy, in high spirits as usual.

“So the worlds aren't at peace after all?” asked Sora, not quite caught up.

Alex took a moment to catch his breath then shook his head.

“No, of course not.” Before the trio had the chance to barrage him with another round of questions he held up his hands. “Again, Yen Sid should be able to explain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is by far the shortest scene I wrote, but I guess it has a few things of note. First off, I think it might be a good sign of the visual references I had at hand while writing this...i.e. virtually none! I had only played the game in its entirety once, so that gave me the general gist of how things looked, and I had access to the game script, the manga, and of course The Interference fanfic. So with all that I wrote this like "hmm, I vaguely remember that mobility on this staircase sucked, so I guess I'll make a note of it", which was probably good enough. The Interference must have been written with the game constantly playing in the background though, I WILL BET YOU PHYSICAL MONEY THAT'S HOW IT WENT DOWN. Because damn, that boy can paint a scene like it's paint-by-number...by that I mean it was really hella precise about every little thing.
> 
> Anyway, this is also where the self-pitying starts for Angelina about her weaponless-ness and general-all-around-uselessness. Which is really kind of a double-edge sword, pardon the pun. I see this awareness and need to better herself as a step forward into character development, but unfortunately it comes at the cost of being one step more annoying (from neutral to one, on the scale of annoying). Well, that's what I worry about, anyway. Maybe she's actually not that bad?


	18. Gearing Up (Part 3)

Together the five of them moved on upwards. Pushing open the door the group came in to a very posh room at the top of the tower. The walls were obstructed by bookshelves stuffed with aging books and important documents, and stars could be seen through a crescent-shaped window behind a cluttered desk. Sitting in a tall-backed chair, long fingers pressed together in expectance, was…

“Master Yen Sid! It's an honor!”

Before the others could react Donald and Goofy had rushed forward, kneeling in respect. As usual, Sora didn’t pay any attention.

“Hey there!” he said with a wave.

They look up at him, aghast. “Sora!” scolded Donald. “Show some respect!”

Embarrassed, Angelina made a quick bow but Yen Sid didn’t seem to mind. Everything about the man was tall, from his height to his grey-bearded face. He dressed in blue robes and a tall pointy hat making his wizard status all too believable.

With a grave expression he addressed Sora. “So, you are Sora. Now then, have you seen the King yet?”

“Yes, we did, Master. But we didn't get a chance to talk to him,” replied Goofy in his friend’s place.

Yen Sid stroked his beard in thought. “Yes...the King has been quite busy of late. Therefore, it would seem that the task of instructing you three falls upon my shoulders. You have a perilous journey ahead of you. You must be well prepared.”

Sora’s spirits fell at this. “You mean...we have to go on another quest? I was looking forward to finding my friend Riku, so we could go back to the islands.”

“Yes,” he confirmed with a nod. “I know. However, everything in your journey, Sora, is connected. Whether you will find your way home to the islands... Whether you will return alone or with your friend... And, whether or not the islands will still be there. And the key that connects them all is you, Sora.”

“I'm...the key?” Sora asked, confused. To prove his point he held out his hand and the Keyblade was there in a flash of light.

“Chosen wielder of the Keyblade! You are the key that will open the door to light.”

Alex moved forward, drawing attention to himself. “Um, I don't mean to be rude, but haven't we generally covered all this stuff before? I'm pretty sure there's a lot more pressing topics to cover...”

Yen Sid held up a hand cutting him off. “Patience, Alexander. Before we can move on, we must make sure that we are clear about who we are... and what role we play in the times to come. If the knowledge you require isn't given with clarity, it may lie to you further down the path.”

With a wave of his hand a heavy ancient book appeared in a puff of smoke. “This book contains valuable knowledge you will need for your journey. Study it carefully. Once you have finished, we will speak of the enemies you will surely confront.”

As Alex stepped forth the pages flipped opened to where they were needed. Curious, Angelina peered between his and Sora’s shoulders to read.

 

_"The Beginning" - Each journey gives rise to chance encounters, and each encounter brings forth a farewell. When a farewell leads to a journey, the worlds open their hearts. Those chosen by the light, or ensnared by darkness. Friends who share the same bonds, though their paths may differ. When you doubt the path trod thus far, when the hand you held is lost to you, gaze anew at the heart that once was...for all the answers are within._

_"Interlude" - A long dream. A sad farewell, hanging in the air in that "world between". What is reality? What is illusion? The path chosen by the young boy leads to his memories. When caught in the stream of the days and nights going past, gaze anew at your steps...for there all confusion will end._

_"The Future Story" - Will the day come when this battle, born of confusion, will end? It is different things to different people. Can the reality be that which is hidden? The reason is mere existence. Still, memories can be believed. Be not afraid. Entrust your body to the soothing waves of your memories. By and by, your fleeting rest will be over...and everything will begin._

 

While reading they remained silent but then Alex spoke up again. “It's sorta relevant... but not completely. Philosophy if nothing else.”

“But wait a sec,” began Sora, “how come the Heartless are still running around?”

“Your past endeavors did prevent an immense effusion of Heartless from

the great darkness; make no mistake about that,” assured Yen Sid. “However, the Heartless are darkness made real---and darkness lingers yet in every heart. The Heartless are fewer. But while darkness exists in a single heart, it will be difficult to eliminate them.”

The members of the original trio slumped. Then Goofy said, “Gawrsh, that must mean...if everybody's heart was full of light, them Heartless'd go away!”

“Yeah…” started Angelina, thinking, “but there can be no light without darkness. They can’t exist without the balance.”

Yen Sid raised an eyebrow at her words, as though he wanted to make a comment, but instead chose to nod. “Now it is time to speak of the enemies that you will encounter.” He glanced at Sora. “While I could make clear what enemies you'll confront, I believe you already possess a document that could inform you of some. And your new companion will be able to clarify if it is necessary.”

Sora jumped, not expecting this, and pulled out several sheets of paper. Alex looked surprised, like he knew what it was, but Angelina had no clue. Sora read it aloud:

_Everyone who was at the Struggle this year knows about the Nobodies. Who could forget the strange white creatures that appeared before the title match, and the equally strange man in the black coat who seemed to be leading them? Well, as it turns out, both of them belonged to the same phenomenon. They were all Nobodies. But just what are Nobodies?_

_Life in general is made up of the body, soul, and heart. And by the last one, we don't mean the organ that pumps blood through the body. We mean the metaphysical heart, the one where all our feelings and emotions come from. Some feelings we get are darker than others, and many times that's a bad thing. Sometimes hearts get too much darkness, and they end up tearing themselves away from the body and soul and let themselves be consumed._

“That's pretty much how Heartless come about, right?” asked Goofy for confirmation. Sora nodded and continued:

_So the heart leaves the body and soul, and then what? What do those remaining parts do without the heart –_ _the basis of their existence? Well, most of the time those two elements simply fade into nothingness. But sometimes the body and soul of those now-heartless people were really strong-willed. Strong enough of will to start moving on their own, independent of the heart. This is how Nobodies are made._

_Nobodies are far from human, even though the most human-looking of them pretend to be. They can think and plan, but they're cold-blooded and emotionless. Most of them don't even look like humans. The most common ones, called Dusks, were the creatures that attacked during the Struggle._

_But the human-like ones, the ones in the black coats, are the most powerful Nobodies. Among the Nobodies there is a group called Organization XIII, which is the group that basically controls all the Nobodies' actions. It's hard to say what they're after, or why they even continue existing, but it's clear that they give little care to the wellbeing of anyone in their way. And the people in their way are usually the ones affiliated with people that can fight the Nobodies. People like Alexander._

The report ended and both Sora and Angelina looked at Alex, confused. He shrugged and explained. “People with magical weapons like the Lockshield or Keyblade.”

Suddenly pillars of light shot up behind them. Three Dusks could be seen within, causing the five to jump. Looking closer, Angelina realized it was an illusion.

“These are the Dusks that were described in the document. Indeed, the most common form of Nobody.” explained Yen Sid calmly. He held out his hand and the forms inside the pillars changed to three figures in black coats. “And this is the appearance of those who lead Organization XIII, which commands the lesser Nobodies.”

“Organization XIII...” muttered Sora to himself.

“Keep in mind, that Heartless act on instinct, while Nobodies function in a higher manner. They plan, and seem to be working toward a goal. What that goal is, we do not know. The King sensed the danger and journeyed forth to fight it. He found the dark realm's Keyblade, and with it, closed the door. Now he's traveling from world to world, fighting the Heartless as he seeks to answer the riddle of the Nobodies and Organization XIII.” The members’ images slowly faded away.

“Then I guess we better go find the King first!” deduced Sora.

Donald nodded, liking the sound of that. “But where could he be?”

“Well, we won't know 'til we look,” said Goofy, ever the optimist.

“Yeah,” continued Sora. “And the King must know where Riku is, 'cause the two of them were together in the realm of darkness when we closed the door. You know, after defeating Ansem.”

Alex sighed and pulled Angelina to the forefront with him. “I can't help but notice... that you seem to know why we’re  _here_ , and... well...”

Yen Sid nodded once more. "Ah, yes, indeed. It is time to explain to you what role you play in the times to come."

“Yeah,” Donald piped up, “why are you guys here, anyway?”

“They,” Yen Sid began, pausing dramatically, “are from a universe completely separate to ours. This world was merely a form of interactive entertainment. A role-playing game, if you will. Quite simply, this universe didn't begin to exist before they interfered.”

This news shocked everyone in the room. Alex and Angelina included, as they weren’t expecting to meet a character holding this knowledge. Sora stormed up to the desk. Angelina had never seen him like this.

“Only a game!” he shouted in utter disbelief.

Yen Sid held up a hand to keep him at bay. “Indeed. It does not matter now, but your journey up to this point was chronicled in those games that were distributed to not only Alexander and Angelina, but to every other player in the real world.”

The game characters were visibly disturbed by this news, glancing uncertainly at the now very uncomfortable newbies. Angelina refused to look anyone in the eyes, worried at what she’d see.

“Do not let this worry you,” the wizard continued. “As of Alexander and Angelina’s entrance into this universe, we all exist on the same foundation in reality as  _they_  do. It is important to realize where you've come from, but it means little about you now. All this truly means is that they will be able to aid you, using the information they’ve gained from the experiences you are about to face. They will be able to predict the future directly pertaining to you and your travels, so I suggest you listen.”

This revelation did nothing more than dampen Angelina’s spirits further. After all, she had little to no knowledge on the game. She wasn’t even entirely sure _what_ Organization XIII’s real plans were. Heck, she didn’t even have a weapon! Just her luck to end up with a stat-calculating gamer who also just happened to score himself his own weapon. For the record, Angelina was starting to get a little jealous…

But worse than that, how long would these guys lug her around before declaring her totally and utterly useless?

The good news was that the lecture had calmed down Sora, Donald, and Goofy for the moment. That would get rid of the skepticism for a while. Alex shuffled, obviously gathering his wits for another question. He glanced at Angelina, then turned back to    Yen Sid.

“But... what about us? How did we get here if it was just a game before? And what about the–?”

Yen Sid took the liberty of interrupting. “Your heart created a connection which brought the universe into existence and drew the two of you into it."

He paused for a moment, addressing Alex directly. "I do not claim to know what thought or feeling caused such a stirring in your heart, Alexander, but you believed in the power of the heart strongly enough to feel some sort of connection here. As for your weapon...”

Alex summoned the Lockshield on cue, pulling it from the cloud of darkness he created. They others took the opportunity to marvel at it once more.

“The Lockshield is a weapon created from the darkness of your heart, Alexander. I do not know why it was your darkness that was chosen, nor why it manifested in such a form so similar to and yet opposite from the Keyblade. Perhaps you sacrificed some light in your heart to create this reality, or maybe darkness held such a principle place in your heart to begin with. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the martial art is critical to facing the challenges ahead, and so your heart created this weapon so that you may utilize it.”

The boy nodded, invigorated. But then he looked down at his shield and sighed slightly, voicing his concern. “Yeah, but I'm not so good at using it. At least the others have some inherent skill in fighting. I've been battling off and on for five days. Not exactly impressive.”

“Yeah, but you've got information that none of us got,” said Goofy, trying to cheer him up. “Lots of it! Maybe that's why the King told you to come with us – so that you could tell us what you know!”

As Alex perked up, Angelina felt guilt for snapping at him internally. He may have some advantages, but Alexander’s confidence was equally shot.

“So how much do these games show, Alex?” asked Donald.

He paused for a moment, thinking. “Well... for you, it started at the moment you discovered that the King had disappeared from Disney Castle. For you, Sora, that'd be about a couple of days before your world had first been destroyed by the Heartless. From there, it follows Sora pretty closely through all of your battles right up until you sealed up the door to darkness. That's the first game, called Kingdom Hearts.”

Sora caught on to that last bit. “Hold on... It's a **series**!”

“Yep. The chronicle we're in right now is Kingdom Hearts II, which is the third game of the series,” confirmed Alex with a grin.

“The number 2 is the  _third_  game?” exclaimed Goofy.

Alex stumbled on that. He had not meant to reveal that part of the game yet. “Well... yeah. Um, remember how I mentioned that your last adventure happened a year ago? Well, there was actually a game in-between the two, called Chain of Memories. You don't remember it, and that's 'cause you aren't supposed to.”

Sora crossed his arms. “Chain of Memories, huh? What happened to us in that?”

“Well, shortly after you sealed the door to darkness, you came across a castle. Castle Oblivion. Little did you guys know, it was an outpost of Organization XIII, where they were waiting for you with a girl named Naminé.”

Angelina wondered how much of this he was going to beat himself up for later.

The trio looked at one another in confusion. Then they remembered reading the name in Jiminy’s log.

“So that's Naminé,” Donald mused once he'd recovered. “Who is she, really? Did we meet her?”

“She's Kairi's Nobody.” The words were said so simply, like it was only a minor detail.

That did not go over well with Sora. He barely held himself back from running the poor boy over, demanding, “Kairi has a Nobody?!”

Shaken, Alex tried to put some space between them. He explained very quickly, “You had to  _return_  her heart in Hollow Bastion, remember? She'd been Heartless for a while! Naminé's not like any normal Nobody, but I'm not going to get into that. Don't completely understand it myself. ...Anyway, she had – or still has, maybe – this weird ability to change the memories of you and everyone affiliated with you. And the Organization forced her to do that as soon as you walked into Castle Oblivion.”

The new concern everyone now shared was voiced by none other than Goofy. “Our memories were tampered with!”

Alex nodded, glad Sora was no longer hounding him. “The Organization's plan was to change your affection toward Kairi to affection toward Naminé. That way, they could blackmail you into doing their bidding for them by threatening to harm her. They were trying to overthrow their superiors, I think. Almost worked, too. You completely forgot Kairi, and you were willing to do anything to save Naminé. Donald and Goofy lost their memories along with you.”

“Wow... So what did we do?” asked Donald eagerly.

“Better than what they expected,” he admitted with a small smile. “You took all of the members that had been stationed at Castle Oblivion, and finally rescued Naminé. By that point, though, your memories were so jumbled up that it would take a lot of time to repair it. A whole year. So she put you three into stasis and worked diligently on you three up until this point.” He gestured at their surroundings, and added, “And here we are.”

“And we don't remember it because...?” Sora prodded.

“Because memories are like a chain. She added a few links to it and removed others in order to tamper with your memories. To reverse that, she had to take out the links she'd put in, including all of the ones involving her and your experience at Castle Oblivion. ...But at least you remember your first adventure now.”

“Wow... I guess we missed a lot...” He suddenly blinked and started to panic. “That means we'd better get out there! Everyone's missed us for a whole year!”

Donald was positively freaking out. Angelina couldn’t help giggling as he shouted, “Ack! Daisy! What'll she say?!”

“And Pete's been buildin' up an army of Heartless for who knows how long!” added Goofy.

Yen Sid nodded, bringing the attention back to him. “So, before you go, you will need more suitable traveling clothes. Those look a bit too small for you,” he smirked, indicating Sora’s now-shrunken shorts.

Everyone couldn’t help letting out a little laughter, lightening the tension in the room.

He continued, gesturing to another room. “Through there you'll find three good fairies. If you ask, they'll create for you appropriate garments.”

Goofy smiled as his friend checked how bad the damage was on his clothes. “Gawrsh, Sora, you've done a lot of growin' this year!”

“Uh, I guess...”

Angelina and Alex were about to follow the trio when Yen Sid said, “Could the two of you wait a moment? There is still much to discuss.”

Two conflicting emotions arose in Angelina: disappointment at the delay in seeing Sora’s new outfit and curiosity at what the old man had to say. Well, the new attire could wait.

“Why don't we go in with them?” asked Alex.

“There is no need to bore you with details you are already aware of,” said the wizard wryly. “However, there is another matter which pertains to each of you particularly. If you don’t mind, might I start with Alexander?”

Angelina shook her head. “Go ahead, I’m patient.”

Master Yen Sid led Alex to a large moon-shaped window in the back wall that looked out into the night sky. “I assume you already know about the gates between the worlds. The pathways that Sora is required to open with the Keyblade's guidance. Now I ask you: what do you know of Dark Corridors?”

The boy raised an eyebrow. “Dark Corridors?” He went silent for some time, trying to remember. “I think I've read it once... in Ansem's secret report. It was some kind of dark pathway that he used to escape the realm of nothingness.”

Yen Sid nodded, his face hardening. “These are the same that the Heartless and Nobodies use to connect themselves with each world. It is by these that they may attempt to connect to those gates between the worlds.

“Listen carefully, Alexander. Even when Sora unlocks those special gates and frees them from those monsters, they will still be able to appear in that world. And, if their behavior can be predicted, they will shortly attempt to create a massive Dark Corridor through which they can forcefully invade a world.”

It was now Alex’s turn to be surprised. “What! Invade? But... that was never in the game!”

“It is an aspect of this universe you'll have to confront,” Yen Sid chided him, “now that it is a reality. But do not fear; you'll be able to stop them.”

“Me?” He squeaked just a little. “How?”

“Through the Lockshield,” Yen Sid replied. “Because of its dark affinity, you are the closest to that potential Dark Corridor. The moment will come when you will be able to seal the Dark Corridor completely with its power, and prevent the appearance of  **any**  Heartless or Nobody within that world.”

Angelina could almost hear the gears churning in Alex’s head. She’d read about it a lot, a young hero’s overwhelming task is finally revealed and they only have a few moments to process what that means to them. It often ends in one of two ways, and either defines the rest of the story. The hero can go into deep denial or take it in stride.

This is what Alex did.

“I'll see what I can do.”

She nodded to herself, almost strangely proud of this one-time stranger.

“And while you're at it,” Yen Sid added, “there is one more task you must focus on. The Keyholes.”

Alex froze, not liking the idea of more weight on his shoulders. “The Keyholes?”

“The gates to the hearts of the worlds. Sora did seal a great number of them in his last adventure, yet many more still await a seal from either the Keyblade or Lockshield. And I shall delegate the task to you to seal the Keyholes in worlds that are not protected yet.”

“Well, there's only about five worlds that come to mind that are already sealed.”

“Six,” Yen Sid corrected him. “Twilight Town is now sealed, though you may not have realized it.”

It took a second to realize what that meant. “The mansion!”

Just then the door to the other room opened and in walked Sora, Donald, and Goofy in their new uniforms. In a way this wasn’t new, but it was still interesting to witness in real life. Sora gestured behind him. “Alright, Alex, you're up next.”

“Huh?” said Alex, wondering if maybe he’d misheard.

“You also will need proper traveling garments for this journey,” said Yen Sid, once again with a certain amount of amusement. “I promise, it will be of greater help to you than your current attire.”

Glancing down at his drab ‘Earth’ clothes, Alex sighed his agreement and ducked passed the trio, closing the door behind him.

The instant Alex left the room Yen Sid turned to the trio. “I hate having to ask again but there are still a few private matters I need to discuss with Angelina.”

“That’s alright,” replied Sora, none too bothered by it. “We’ll be waiting outside.”

The protagonist took his Disney friends into the stairway and just like that Angelina was alone with the wizard. A thrill of excitement shot through her like electricity. She shuffled in front of him awkwardly. “So…you understand where my place is in all this?”

Yen Sid sighed, almost like he was frustrated. “I am afraid…I cannot entirely say for sure.”

“But you have something, like a guess?” she pursued. “Or there would be nothing to discuss.”

The wizened old man nodded. “Indeed, but first there are things that need some sorting out. Have you thought much of what your affiliation is?”

“My affiliation?”

“Simply put, do you think you are part of Light or Darkness?”

Angelina paused, a little at a loss of what to say. “If I had to answer…I’d have to say neither. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but I’m not anything like Alex or Sora. So I just kinda figured it’d come to me if the time ever came…”

He nodded again, obviously thinking deeply. “Give me your hand.”

Hesitant, she obeyed. After a few seconds of confusion, she felt it. It was like a flow of energy just under the man’s skin, with barest traces of unnatural warmth that could only be described as…light. It reminded her of the instants she ‘felt’ something in both Alex and Sora, but even though this was almost unnoticeable at first she could tell it was a beast compared to the inexperienced heroes’.

“Interesting…” Angelina heard the man murmur. “That would explain it…”

Suddenly a strong pulse of icy cold swept through the room, seeming to inexplicably come from the dressing room Alex was residing in. Angelina couldn’t help turning towards the source in surprise. Yen Sid watched her, eyebrows raised in fascination.

“So you can sense, too.”

“What?”

“You can sense the levels of Light and Darkness in others,” he explained. “Have you ever felt this before?”

“Um…” Angelina stammered, having fully expected to be judged as ‘Perfectly Normal’. “It was a little cold when I met Alex, and warm with Sora. I thought it was a little weird ‘cause I don’t feel much temperature, but I just passed it off as a coincidence…”

“And what did you feel within myself, just now?”

“Er, nothing much. Just energy, maybe a _little_ light…”

Yen Sid smiled, just a little. “That was exactly what I felt within you. You and I have the same affiliation.”

“And that is?” said Angelina, expecting no answer at all.

“What you have, Angelina,” he began, “is best learned from experience. I believe you will think so as well, when it finally reveals itself.”

As expected. “Alright, I think I get that. But what is it I can do? I don’t have a weapon or any of the knowledge Alex does. Am I expected to save a whole world, if not the universe, with nothing?”

There it was, Yen Sid smirked again. “In a way, you will be saving worlds. Yes, much of this journey will be about saving lives and defeating the enemy. But there is another aspect to this most heroes ignore entirely. And it is this you will focus on.” He paused, long enough for Angelina to register the confusion on her face, before continuing. “As you will visit worlds in their points of greatest turmoil you will meet those in trouble on a much deeper level. A heart is like another world itself. It will be your duty to calm the storms in those hearts.”

“But… How am I supposed to-?”

“Trust your heart, it will find the way.”

Before she could ask any more questions the door opened once again and Alex walked in, looking a little haggard but none worse for wear. His outfit was a lot like Sora’s, but the red and black were switched. And as for his hair…

Angelina grinned widely. “Man, this is going to be so cool…”

Alex stepped aside to invite her in. “Looks like it’s your turn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exposition! You heard it in the game, you read it in The Interference, and now you have to sit through it all over again!! Still, anyone else think it's weird that Yen Sid reads up on the latest high school essays? Maybe it's a wizard-thing.
> 
> So now we know the basics of the interference phenomenon and just about everything about Alex's powers. AND we also get more hinting for Angelina's powers too (yes, I have been foreshadowing them for several chapters now). Wizards are always inscrutable when you need them the most, and lecturing when you want them to shut up. Follow for more #justwizardthings


	19. Gearing Up (Part 4)

The dressing room was in the style of Yen Sid’s office, but much more…homely. The space was more lavishly furnished and had a feminine touch. Of course Angelina barely took the time to take that in, as she was immediately crowded by a mob of brightly colored sheets. The sheets talked fast, excited.

“So this is the girl!”

“My, she’s a tall one, isn’t she?”

“But she does have potential, she could be very cute.”

“Perhaps you should pull back now. You’re scaring her.”

“Oh, sorry dear!”

The area cleared, much to Angelina’s relief, to reveal that the sheets weren’t sheets at all. They were fairies. Specifically, the three Good Fairies from _Sleeping Beauty_. They were all older women wearing bright Middle Age-style dresses and pointy hats, each their own color. The fairy in pink, obviously the leader, Flora, stepped forward.

“Sorry for the fright, dear. It has been a rather eventful day, so we were just a little excited.” Flora smiled, a little embarrassed at her behavior. “You must be Angel, what a lovely name!”

Angelina blushed and smiled in return. “Thanks… So how does this work? Do you need measurements or what?”

“No need,” said Fauna, in green. “We’ll be using magic.”

“Oh,” she said, feeling stupid.

“Now,” Flora sniffed, business-like, “if there’s nothing else, let’s begin!”

Flora pulled out a slender pink wand and flicked it towards Angelina, shooting a bright pink bolt directly at the girl’s chest. She winced, expecting it to hurt, and felt a tingle of energy run down her spine. Sensing she was unharmed, Angelina opened her eyes to find herself wearing a ribbony-pink dress with a short skirt and heels. It actually looked like a Square-Enix design and it seemed to be functional. Somehow, inexplicably, her hair also felt different.

Angelina was, understandably, speechless. It looked good, but it just wasn’t her. She was about to say so, but the fairies seemed too distracted to listen to her. Flora admired the dress, proud of her work. The other two weren’t as impressed.

“This won’t do at all…” muttered Merryweather, the stout blue fairy.

Fauna tilted her head to the side, in deep thought. “Wouldn’t this be more suitable?”

Before anyone could object, Fauna pulled a green wand from the folds of her blouse and shot a magical beam at Angelina. Once again, the clothes changed. This time it was a light green ruffled top with a darker green skirt that trained in the back. It was a lot lacier and a lot less functional. She felt a strand of hair brush her shoulder as she turned her head.

Fauna beamed, but Flora was having none of it. “Please, it was much better like this.”

A wave of a wand later and the pink dress was back.

“Hey, I want to try!” Merryweather flicked her blue wand and created a blue dress.

This continued for a while longer, one outfit appearing only to be replaced with another in seconds. Each time the dress was enhanced little by little. Angelina tried to get a word in.

“Um… Hey… You guys-… Hey, I’m not a mannequin!”

The Good Fairies jumped in surprise at the outburst. The ruffled girl, now in a very extravagant pink dress, blushed at the sudden attention but held her ground. “Um…could you please calm down?”

All three avoided eye contact, embarrassed. Flora took charge. “We’re very sorry, dear. We were just looking forward to designing something for you when we heard a girl was coming and got carried away. We didn’t mean to upset you…”

Angelina sighed, relieved that they were finally listening. “No, it’s okay. I’m fine. I’m just thinking that maybe we should set some ground rules. Also, I think Merryweather should be in charge. We seem to have similar tastes.”

At this, Merryweather brimmed with pride as the other two reluctantly backed off. The girl and the blue fairy briefly discussed details, mostly stressing to lay off the dresses, skirts and ribbons. Finally, Merryweather nodded. “I think I have something like that in mind!”

She stepped back and, with a final twirl of her wand, let lose a blue bolt. A static tingle went through Angelina once again. Almost afraid to look, she glanced down. It was defiantly something like what the boys were wearing: a blue short-sleeved jacket with functional pockets and a hood, zipped up with an almost comically large zipper. Only Square-Enix. There were also matching blue shorts. This whole outfit was over a black-and-white T-shirt and pants combo, the legs of the pants alternating with the sleeves of the shirt. The shoes were quite unique, having a similar style to Sora’s but the black-and-white pattern on the left was reversed on the right. She loved it.

Merryweather spun with joy. Even Flora and Fauna seemed impressed.

“My, that does look good!”

“I had my doubts but it really does suite you, dear.”

“Doesn’t it? I thought something like this was better!”

Angelina grinned in embarrassment. “Thank you, really!”

“Now of course,” said Flora, “we must have the grand finale.”

“Finale?”

“This is all more than just for show, you know,” said Merryweather. She conjured up a magic glowing sphere that floated lazily to the girl. “Take it and see for yourself.”

Angelina hesitated. After all, she hadn’t had much contact with magic until now and just about all of it was still a mystery. Slowly, she reached out to the sphere. As though waiting impatiently for its cue, the little glowing ball shot through her palm. The effect was instantaneous. Warmth spread from her fingers and through her body. She was vaguely aware of her arms moving on their own but at that moment she didn’t care. This is what magic felt like.

Then things got strange. It felt at first like a breeze had run across both her hands, but they became something very solid. They felt heavy. What were they? Angelina came out of it enough to wonder this and tried to turn her head to see.

_Don’t look. You aren’t ready yet._

It was a strange voice. It sounded human, but Angelina couldn’t tell the gender or age.

_You will understand soon enough, but not yet._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scene was fun, especially in the manga (protip: go check that shit out!). Little sad that The Interference didn't exploit this, so I took it upon myself to make up for it. I wouldn't call myself anti-pink, even back when I was "Angelina", since I have a healthy appreciation for femininity and fashion (although I admit that appreciation is still in its baby-stage and came with a lot of self-hate along the way). But yeah, I always was uncomfortable when it came to actually WEARING women's clothing, and it would turn out years after writing this there was a very good explanation for that. Not that I don't know any other trans dudes who like to rock a skirt every now and then. ;^)
> 
> So yeah, I get that the tomboy protagonist who can't be taken seriously until she fights EXACTLY like the boys do is kind of a shitty trope, and I understand if y'all want to call me out on that. But please understand that my decision to write Angelina as someone who hates to look feminine was based on some very personal stuff I was going through, and that I was not trying to set an example to hate feminine women. After all, Angelina being a self-insert character means that eventually she'll catch up to where I'm at and be out as a trans character (yes, I plan to write it!). Er, I hope any of this makes sense? If it doesn't, please ask me and I'll try to clear it up.
> 
> In other news, vague power-stuff! This is more or less what happened to Alex at this point in The Interference, as the Drive-thingy gave both Sora and Alex a glitch known as an anti-form (that gust of cold in the previous scene? that's what that was). Of course, Alex being master of darkness or whatever, his anti-form is stronger and happens more often! ...and it's also kind of a pain in the ass, but we'll get there. But! Angel doesn't get an anti-form. Instead some other stuff happens. So what was up with the voice in her head? Honestly...I don't have a fucking clue, it's never explained. Let's just chalk it up to "magic is weird" #justwizardthings and move on.


	20. Gearing Up (Part 5)

Everyone was waiting for Angelina in Yen Sid’s office. The wizard was just starting to worry about the girl when he turned his head towards the dressing room, like he could sense something. Alex was the only one to see this movement and was surprised to see the man chuckle. He looked at the boy and smiled. “Looks like she found what she was looking for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. THIS is the shortest scene I've ever written.


	21. Gearing Up (Part 6)

“Are you all right, dear?”

Angelina woke to find herself supported by the arms of three old ladies. No wait, they were fairies. And this was the Kingdom Hearts universe. That was some disorientation.

“What happened?”

The three fairies looked at each other, worried. “You fainted when we gave you the drives,” said Fauna.

Angelina asked, “Did something go wrong?”

More anxious looks. “We…don’t know. It didn’t seem like the side-effect that the other two have.”

“Side-effect?”

Flora sighed. “It’s a glitch in the outfits. Sometimes the darkness can overtake a person and activate a sort of…anti-form. Alex seems to take to it quite well, but it didn’t look like what happened here. It was like you just…” She struggled to find the words.

“It was like she just turned off!” offered Merryweather.

“Yes, just like that.”

That didn’t sound good. “Well, not much we can do about that. I think it’s about time we leave. Thank you, for all you’ve done.”

“Our pleasure!” the Good Fairies chorused.

She opened the door and saw her friends lounging around impatiently. When they saw her they immediately went over.

“What took you so long?” asked Alex, like she had just gone on some sort of shopping spree. Then he actually got the chance to look her over. “Whoa, you look great!”

Sora nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it suites you. Look, our ride’s here!”

Through the crescent-shaped window, the Gummi Ship, _Highwind_ , could be seen. Like most spacecraft, it didn’t look at all aerodynamic. Color-wise, it was somewhat childish-looking, but that was part of its charm.

Once everyone had gathered and quieted Yen Sid spoke. “Now then, that is all the information I can give to you. Go forth, Sora, Donald and Goofy. Alexander and Angelina. Everyone is waiting.”

“Okay!” said Sora in excitement. “Let’s get going!”

The group fell in line, as official as they started. Donald started. “Master Yen Sid!”

“We sure do appreciate the help!” said Goofy each member of the group saluted. They broke rank and, all except for Alex, left without looking back. The adventure was just ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay let's get going, but not before complimenting Angelina's outfit! Also, she seems really flippant about having glitchy magic in her system, doesn't she?


	22. Magical Mystery (Part 1)

The inside of the Gummi Ship was, in real-estate terms, ‘cozy’. For one thing, it was obviously designed for three people as it only had three seats. But this wasn’t a major concern for Alex and Angelina, neither of whom had ever been on a spaceship before. They took the chance to gawk at the colorful interior, endless array of buttons and levers, and countless blinking lights. Not to mention the breathtaking view of the aurora-spectrum of the Gummi-Space beyond.

Suddenly, two friendly and familiar chipmunks in yellow work aprons appeared on the monitor.

The one with a big red nose and absurdly large buckteeth waved to the main trio in unbridled excitement. “Howdy, Sora! How ya doin’?”

“It’s your favorite Gummi engineers here,” reported the more demure, black-nosed chipmunk. “Ready for duty: Chip…”

“And Dale!”

It would seem the Gummi Ship engineer brothers, Chip and Dale, had gotten word at Disney Castle about Sora’s new adventure. The duo jumped and shouted, “Happy flying!” before blinking out.

Sora looked out into deep space and spotted a lonely satellite of a planet in the distance. “Only one!” he complained, his disappointment evident.

“That’s no good!” agreed Donald, to the confusion of Angelina. To her, even one other world was plenty exciting.

Goofy squinted at the distant world. His eyes widened in recognition and he smiled. “Wait! I think it’s a world we know!”

“Yep,” confirmed Alex, who was leaning against the back wall of the room. “It’s the world of Hallow Bastion, surprisingly enough. It’ll act as our base of operations this time around, just like Traverse Town was for you guys in the first adventure.”

He seemed somewhat distracted by something, looking through the glass domed roof in deep thought. As the ship began to chug forward he suddenly cried out in surprise, catching something in his reflection. “Gah! They _did_ mess with my hair!”

Sora stopped the ship, wondering what was wrong. “Who? What?”

Meanwhile, Alex ran a hand through his new spiky locks in utter disbelief as Angelina tried to contain her mirth. The boy’s new style was actually pretty tame, considering present company, but the dark-brown spikes made him look like any anime character.

He sunk to the floor, unsure what to feel other than embarrassment. “Those three good fairies, they made my hair spiky along with changing my clothes. My hair wasn’t anything _close_ to spiky before! I look just like any other Square-Enix protagonist now…”

Angelina nodded, examining herself in the reflection. Unlike Alex, she took this new change in stride. Her spiky, now yellow-blond, bangs fell into her eyes, with a strand hanging down on either side of her face and one particularly stubborn spike sticking straight up like a horn. The rest of the length was pulled back into a tail and now looked like a nest of porcupine quills. “No kidding, I’m like a female Cloud Strife!”

Goofy glanced between the two in confusion. “You look like _what_?”

Alexander sighed and explained. “Square-Enix. It's the company in the real world that was mainly responsible for developing the Kingdom Hearts series of games. And, up until recently, their standard for protagonist character designs was ridiculously spiky hair. Like yours. And now mine,” he added reluctantly.

Sora put a hand to his head subconsciously. “Wait…my hair was designed by someone? I thought it just grew out like that naturally…”

Alex couldn’t help chuckling at that. “It did grow out like that, I guess. But the end result was designed. Heck, every aspect of your appearance, along with everyone else's in this universe, was designed by someone at some point.”

The older boy was strangely silent as he restarted the engines. “Wow... That's...kinda weird to think about.”

Angelina looked at Sora, concerned. “Um, Alex… That might have been a bit too much to take in…”

He blinked, the reality of his words sinking in. “Sorry. Didn't mean to throw that on you like that. I...can't really imagine how difficult it is to know that everything around you was engineered.”

But then Sora laughed. “Actually, my appearance being designed isn't such a bad thing.”

“R-really?” asked Alex, confused.

Sora swiveled to them and grinned hugely. “It means I don't have to worry about whether I'm good-looking or not. I wouldn't make a good leader in a game if I wasn't, right?”

Alex and Angelina shared a confused look. But then they realized that was exactly like Sora, the one who never let anything get him down. With that thought everyone burst out laughing, relived that no one was put off by this new information.

As the _Highwind_ slowed to a stop Alex glanced at Angelina, remembering something. “Oh yeah, did you…have any problems with the drives?”

“What? Oh, er…” What was she supposed to say? What exactly _did_ go wrong? She still couldn’t really say for sure what had happen when she grabbed that magical sphere.

Before Angelina could come up with a good explanation, Goofy called out, “Alright, let’s go!” Without any further warning, his large gloved hand slammed down on a big red button labeled, ‘Disembark’. And just like that, the five disappeared in a bright flash of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first trip into space clearly calls for some hair-do high-jinks.
> 
> Also, things are starting to get a little too meta. Might want to dial that back a bit, Alex.


	23. Magical Mystery (Part 2)

Transportation was instantaneous and somewhat disconcerting. Alex and Angelina were still blinking at the sudden change of scenery as Sora, Donald and Goofy hurried forward to see what kind of place they were in. The town was ever-so-slightly steam-punkish, with all the gears, exposed pipes and metal tube chimneys spewing white smog. There were shops everywhere, for just about everything. Every once in a while a Moogle would wander in or out of one of these shops, occasionally with supplies. This wasn’t surprising, as Moogles were known for crafting.

But the trio paid no attention to the foreground. Off in the distance was a monstrous, unstable-looking structure composed of massive pipe work, similar to the shape of a medieval castle. As Angelina squinted she could barely make out a heavy metal Heartless symbol on the front.

Sora was in awe. “It really _is_  Hollow Bastion!”

“Gawrsh, it looks kinda different now,” remarked Goofy, referring to the development of the city.

“Did you ever doubt me?” came Alex’s reply as he finally caught up.

Donald looked around, hoping to see someone. “I hope Leon and the gang are doing okay.”

A small movement caught Angelina’s eye and she looked to the terrace above them. The creature, one of the Moogles, could have only come up to the girl’s knees, not including the red bobble antenna on top of its head. It was carrying a big box, evidently too heavy to use its small bat wings. She waved up at the Moogle tentatively and, struggling with its load, it returned the wave with a ‘Kupo!’

“Uh-oh, looks like we're gonna have to do some fightin'.”

Angelina turned to see Goofy pointing at some Soldier Heartless, which evaporated in a cloud of black smoke.

“Really?” Alex rebutted. “I never would've guessed.”

They wandered through the winding streets, Alex leading. As they passed though an arch a flash caught everyone’s attention. Before they could focus on it the light disappeared, only to have another appear elsewhere. It was two parallel discs, each baring a grid pattern, containing a cylindrical beam of light.

This happened several more times as Donald squawked, “Hey, what's going on?”

Alex kept trying to get a look at the things as they sped by, finally coming up with a name. “Claymores?”

A girl’s voice came from overhead. “Yep, that's the town's defense mechanism.”

With a look of recognition, Sora glanced over to the source of the voice and smiled. “Yuffie!”

Everyone followed his gaze to see a young black-haired girl in modern day ninja garb from the Final Fantasy series, grinning cheekily. Of course, that grin left as she saw what was behind the group. “Look out!”

Without even looking Sora summoned his Keyblade and swung it behind him, making the Dusk that was sneaking up pull back. Several more appeared, as well as a couple of Assassins. Everyone, with the exception of Angelina, brought out their weapons.

Alex started with a feint, followed by a quick reversal, as Donald roasted his Dusk with a well placed Fire spell. But before either of them could really get into it, the so-called ‘Claymores’ enveloped both targets in vaporized them. As they blinked in confusion a red blur rushed passed them and practically bulldozed the rest of the Nobodies.

Angelina watched amazed, as this was her first time witnessing Sora’s Valor Form in action. His clothes had changed bright red, with a few extra designs, and he now wielded two Keyblades, the Kingdom Key and the Star Seeker. Goofy had disappeared, as was typical with this transformation.

Alex and Donald slowly lowered their weapons, as they were clearly not needed, and gave each other a meaningful look.

“I think we…”

“Yeah…”

Sora proceeded to dismantle his opponents with ease. Before anyone could say ‘That was fast’ it was already done. With a flash of red Sora’s clothes reverted back to their original state, the second Keyblade disappeared, and Goofy appeared at his side, dizzy.

Goofy shook the look off his face and grinned at Sora. “Well, that was kinda fun!”

“Hey, you guys!” Yuffie shouted, jumping off the high ledge down to their level. That made Alex and Angelina flinch. She exclaimed, “I see you're still in top form.”

“What'd you expect?” Sora boasted. “Looks like you're doing okay.”

“Well, what did  _you_  expect?” Yuffie retorted with a laugh.

“How are the others?” asked Donald as everyone rounded up.

“Great!” The ninja looked at Alex and Angelina expectantly. “So I’m guessing the guy’s Alexander…and you must be Angelina?”

The newbies both fumbled, neither expecting to be addressed. “Huh- Well- Uh, yeah- That’s me!”

Yuffie burst out laughing at this as Goofy asked, “You guys already know about them?”

“Well, that makes things simpler,” remarked Sora. Then he looked to the ninja seriously. “Hey, Yuffie, have you seen the King or Riku?”

Fully expecting that question, Yuffie turn on her way and replied, “Nope.”

“Oh…”

Sensing his disappointment, she turned back and smiled. “But I had a feeling I'd see you guys again.”

Sora tried a serious impression. “ _We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other._ ”

She laughed. “Is that supposed to be Leon?”

Everyone couldn’t help laughing along with her. Still giggling, Yuffie said, “Everybody's working on stuff over at Merlin's house. C'mon!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moogles are cool. That's really the only thing worth noting about this scene.


	24. Magical Mystery (Part 3)

Yuffie pushed open the heavy wooden door with unbridled glee. “Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!”

The room was for the most part normal, except for the sizable computer on the far wall. There were three people huddled around it: the burly Cid with his cigarette smoke filling the air, the ever patient Aerith, and the leather-clad Leon. At Yuffie’s voice, they turned to see who was at the door.

“We missed you!” proclaimed Aerith immediately in recognition.

“Well, if you ain't in top shape,” said Cid with a chuckle.

Leon smirked. “I knew it”

That confused Sora. “Knew what?”

“A while back everyone suddenly remembered you guys, all at the same time,” he explained casually.

“You…remember?” The original trio looked at each other, then suddenly got it. “Wait! Does that mean you forgot about us?”

“Thanks!” snapped Donald, more than a little insulted.

Alex cut in. “Wait! Sora, it was because of Naminé.”

“Huh?” Yuffie said. “Naminé?”

“Right after the battle in the End of the World, Sora and the gang went to a place called Castle Oblivion, where they had a small adventure. It's a long story, but basically it involved having Sora's memories twisted around – even erased in some cases. They spent this last year having their memories switched back,” he explained lengthily. Glancing at the trio, Alex added, “You three weren't the only ones forgetting stuff. Because of the connection between your hearts, everyone affiliated with you also forgot about those times. And when you remembered, they remembered as well.”

“Because of our hearts?” Donald inquired, tilting his head.

That actually caught him off guard a little. “Well...I can only assume. I mean, in this universe, hearts are pretty darn important, and can cause powerful things to happen in people. The games themselves are called _Kingdom **Hearts**_ , after all.”

And with that, the conversation was dropped. Leon looked over the boy with interest and stepped towards him. “So you  _are_  Alexander,” he remarked, obviously referring to Alex’s game-plot theories. “Merlin told us about you.”

Alex looked intimidated by the young man, but said, “Yeah, I've heard that already. How the heck did Merlin know about me anyway?”

“Can't say for sure how,” Cid grunted, seemingly displeased. “Just gets up one mornin' and says that we're all part of a video game brought to life, thanks to a guy named Alex. And of course, let’s not forget the wild card.”

“Wild card?”

Cid sighed. “Well, I don’t understand all of it myself. Better let that ol’ codger explain that to you himself, but I’m thinking it’s that quiet girl in the corner there.”

Everyone turned to look at Angelina, who had just been enjoying the moment before those stares made her self-conscious. “Er sorry, I don’t know what he means by that.”

Meanwhile, Sora had a thought. “Y'know, it might be the same thing with Yen Sid already knowing about you guys.”

“Yeah, and the King!” added Goofy with a knowing nod.

Angelina found this news somewhat relieving but it seemed to bother Alex, who was deep in thought.

“Anyway, it doesn't matter,” said Aerith, ever positive. “This is great. Everyone's together again!”

“Actually, now that we're talking about it...” Sora segued, “we're trying to find Riku and the King. Have you seen 'em?”

Leon, Cid and Aerith all shook their heads, which was pretty much the expected answered.

“Right…”

Aerith felt bad about that. “Sorry, but let us know if there's anything we can do to help. Okay?”

Sora smiled, though a little painfully. “Okay. Thanks.”

Cid got up, pushing Alex aside and pounding a fist into an open hand. “Don't go thankin' us just yet.”

“Hollow Bastion's got a problem,” said Leon ominously. “A big problem.”

“Nobodies and Heartless, right?” Alex shook his head, unused to the unexpected roughhousing. “Hard for there to be any other kinds of problems in this place.”

“That's right!” exclaimed Yuffie with a wide grin.

“Sounds like you could use our help,” agreed Sora.

Leon nodded. “Then let's cut to the chase, Sora, Donald, Goofy. We were hoping the three of you might give us a hand around here.”

Alex almost fell over in shock. “ _What!_  Hey, I'm in this party, too!”

Yuffie teased the poor boy. “Coulda fooled me. I didn't see you do too much in that fight back there. In fact, you and Donald just kinda sat back while Sora did his stuff.”

Sora and Goofy both stared a Donald suspiciously. Cracking under pressure, he pointed dramatically at Alex. “It was  _his_  idea!”

Angelina couldn’t help letting out a laugh, drawing Yuffie’s attention. “Hey, I didn’t see _you_ contributing at all.”

The girl blushed. “Excuse me for not having a weapon… Where were you when the battle started?”

“Touché.”

“Alright, so I'm not that great a fighter,” Alex admitted. “Especially not compared to them. But, hey, in that situation, I probably would've only gotten in the way of Sora's Valor Form.”

“In case he accidently skewers you?” Angelina suggested.

“Exactly.”

“He does okay, considering that he just started fighting six days ago,” assured Goofy.

Leon considered it. “Well, anyway... Sora, Donald, Goofy, and  _Alex_... Any help we can get from you four would be appreciated.”

Angelina expected to be left out, but it felt disappointing none the less. Could she still follow or would they leave her behind this time? How many more times would that question come up?

Stepping out the front door, Leon looked back and said, “Follow me to the bailey – there's something you need to see.”

Before anyone could move there was a smoky, and _very colorful_ , explosion in the middle of the room. None of the Final Fantasy characters were terribly surprised and as the smoke cleared it was easy to see why.

It was an elderly man with an energetic air about him, like he was much younger. Much of his appearance was like that of Yen Sid’s, with the tall blue conical hat, the blue robes and the white Santa Claus beard. But this wizard had a much less intimidating atmosphere, like the fun grandpa who’d tell stories of far off places and daring heroes. Indeed, in _The Sword in the Stone_ he did raise such a hero.

“Oh!” the wizard bumbled, beaming at the group through his spectacles. “I thought it was you. Right on time!”

“It's Merlin!” Donald unintentionally introduced as they crowded the old man.

“Sora and the gang said they're going to help out!” Yuffie filled him in.

Merlin seemed pleased to hear that. “Splendid! We'll count on you!”

“Right!” chorused the original trio.

After a moment’s hesitation Alex joined in “…Right.”

Catching that last bit, Merlin turned to him. “Ah, Alexander. It's certainly a pleasure to get to know you at last.” Looking past them toward Aerith, he then said, “Did you give them the cards, dear?”

“Oh!” Aerith exclaimed, having completely spaced. She handed each of them a royal purple card, displaying the committee logo and each individual member’s name. “Here... they're presents for you. Leon thought you might like to have them.”

“ _Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member_!” Sora read out loud, excited.

“Membership cards!” Donald joined in.

“I get one too?” questioned Angelina.

Goofy nodded. “Kinda cool, huh?”

Absently Sora turned around to thank Leon, who was no longer there. “Hey, thanks Le-... Huh? Oh no! We're supposed to be at the bailey!”

They tried to follow again but (for the second time that day) Merlin stopped them. “Just a moment, Sora. What about your magic?”

“Huh?” Sora rubbed the back of his head in thought. “Oh, that's right...”

“Maybe you forgot it when your memories were being switched around!” added Yuffie helpfully.

“Now, what am I to do with you?” Merlin sighed as he mysteriously covered one hand with the other. From between his fingers three flashes could be seen: red, then blue, then yellow. He uncovered his hand to revile three glowing spheres of the same colors lying on his palm. “I suppose I'll have to lend you a few spells. But be careful with them!”

“Thanks, Merlin!” said Sora, taking the red orb. Alex and Angelina both jumped as they watched the little spell slide beneath his skin. Angelina felt a faint heat pass through the room.

Merlin gestured towards the two newbies. “Well come now, both of you.”

Neither of them moved. Alex looked between them and asked. “You mean us?”

“Who else do you think? Certainly not Donald, he’s already mastered these.”

Donald took this moment to look superior. Alex shook off his hesitation and stepped forward.

“So, this is a Blizzard Element...?” He took the blue sphere and yelped as it sank into his hand, letting out a cold breeze. Angelina expected something bigger, but it was just from surprise.

“Alright then,” the wizard continued. “Angel?”

Surprised he knew her name, Angelina watched the remaining sphere of magic. It shone bright yellow, and even from where she was standing she could feel energy from it. Could the others feel this? Tentatively, her fingers wrapped around the tiny thing and it eerily sunk into her palm. A small, but noticeable rush of static energy filled her system. As it neared her heart she sensed other, unknown magical energies beginning to stir. Somehow she knew that as her magic grew, other spells would reveal themselves to her.

“Angel… Hey, Angel!”

“Huh?”

“We’re leaving!” Alex and the others were waiting impatiently at the door. She must have zoned out.

“C-Coming!” she called, embarrassed.

“Now Angel,” Merlin started, “don’t be frustrated if your magic doesn’t show itself immediately. Without a weapon, magic becomes much more difficult to draw out. As you are now, it could take years before you even master the Thunder spell.”

Well that was disappointing. “That’s okay. Thank you anyway, Merlin.”

“Angel, we’re going to leave you behind!” Alex hounded.

“I said I’m coming, geez.” She bowed her head quickly to Merlin. “See you! H-Hey! Wait up!”

Merlin watched the strange group leave. Suddenly, a thought came to him. “Say Aerith, did you feel that?”

Aerith tilted her head in confusion. “Feel what, Merlin?”

The old codger stroked his beard and adjusted his glasses. “Hmm… Must’ve been my imagination…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More 'sensing' stuff! I think I should mention that magic sensing is my own concept, at least when it comes to the KH universe. Neither the games nor The Interference mention anything like it, but I wanted to make a concept that was mine and at least a little plausible. Angelina has an emphasis on magic (where Sora has strength and Alex has health/defense), so it would make sense that she would have something like this when the other two have their own specialties. These specialties are based on the three weapons choices you get at the beginning of the game (sword, staff, and shield), soo...draw your own conclusions on where I'm going to go with this!
> 
> Btw, though many other magic masters like Yen Sid have the sensing ability, I have a little head-canon that Merlin has it, but isn't fully aware of it. Actually, I think it's pretty fair to say that everyone who is aware of the interference effect probably has the sensing ability to some degree...


	25. Magical Mystery (Part 4)

The sun was setting when they finally caught up with Leon, who was looking over the edge of the huge defensive wall known as the bailey. He heard them coming and gave Angelina a strange look.

“You brought her? I wasn’t expecting to have to take care of extra baggage.”

The boys were surprised; they forgot Angelina hadn’t been invited. “That’s okay,” said Sora uncertainly. “She’s been with us this far, so it would be unfair to leave her behind.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed. “We’ll protect her so she won’t get in your way-”

Leon cut him off with an upraised hand. “This isn’t a game anymore, kid. This is a serious mission and I don’t want to bring a girl who can’t defend herself.”

Both Alex and Sora looked like they wanted to say something but couldn’t think of it. Angelina stepped forward. “Thanks guys, but he’s right. I won’t pretend to pull my own weight when I obviously can’t. But…”

Leon looked at her expectantly. “But?”

She looked straight at him, nervous but unflinching. “Test me. If I’m going to do this adventure it’s all or nothing. So if you would let me join this mission be my judge, to test whether or not I’m able to journey with these guys. If I’m not…then I’ll stay here.”

There was a collective gasp. “But Angel,” started Sora, “you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to worry about the Heartless with us around.”

“She has a point,” said Donald. “You wouldn’t let Kairi join because she couldn’t protect herself, so why should Angel get special privileges?”

“Well yeah, but…that’s Kairi.”

Alex watched this in deep thought, seeming to understand where she was coming from. “Will you be okay with this? You wanted to be a part of this as much as I did, that’s hard to walk away from.”

Angelina shook her head. “Of course it’s not okay with me, but I can’t drag down the group.”

Leon studied her. After a brief silence he said, “Alright you can come along, but you won’t get any special treatment. You’ll be part of the front of the formation and if you call out for help during this mission I’ll fail your ‘test’. Do you understand?”

The girl gulped, not expecting to be taken seriously. “Y-Yes.”

Surprisingly the man smirked, like he was remembering something amusing. “Good, then you should come see this.”

Leon led them to the edge of the bailey, which overlooked a vast canyon, and directed them to an enormous crumbling structure: the decrepit Heartless-emblazed castle that served as one of the final battle grounds in the first game. And, like a black fungus, scrambling up the sides of the cliff the castle was situated on were Heartless. Hundreds upon hundreds of little Shadows infested the ravine below; making the entire area look as though it was boiled in soy sauce. The group gawked at the overwhelming numbers.

“Is that…all Heartless?” asked Alex shakily. Even with the good odds he’d faced so far he had to admit this was pretty intense.

Leon nodded. “We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be. Who knows, maybe even something better. There's still a lot to do, but I'm sure we can handle everything... Except for  _that_...” Then, after some thought, he added and pointed down, “And that…”

Everyone leaned forward to look over the edge. Alex almost tried for a second but then immediately backed off, a movement which caught everyone’s attention.

“What’s the matter?” asked Sora concerned.

“Heights…” the boy explained, looking somewhat pale just thinking about what he had almost done.

 _You have to be kidding,_ thought Angelina. _This is the_ worst _game for acrophobes._

“Anyway,” he continued, desperate to get off the subject, “I know what Leon means. It's the Nobodies, right?” The remaining four looked back and saw what he meant, just barely catching a glimpse of the pair of Dusks trying to invade Heartless territory. “Well, now I see why you doubted Angel and I'd be able to help...”

“Don’t worry, we’ll handle ‘em!” said Sora from his endless source of confidence.

“Well, that's good to hear,” replied Leon. He turned to their ‘tech-genius’. “So Alex, do you know what's going on, then?”

Alex went out of his way to look at Leon without having to stare over the edge. “Well, on one side, we have this guy named Pete, who was once working with Maleficent to plot using the Heartless. He's still at it, but he doesn't exactly have the kind of mental skill to come up with... _that_  kind of logistics.”

“You mean that's not Pete's work?” inquired Sora.

He shrugged. “Probably not, though I can't be totally sure. I'd say it's a good bet, though.”

“Yeah…Pete's hardly smart enough to tie his own shoes. The ones we need to worry about are the Nobodies.”

“And those Organization XIII guys in charge, too!” added Goofy.

A deep voice resonated through the air. _“You called?”_

This startled the group, each person searching for the one who had spoken. Angelina noticed the expression on Alex’s face, like he recognized it and wasn’t looking forward to meeting them.

Sora in the lead, they ran for the exit opposite the way they had entered. A different voice cajoled them. _“You’re doing well.”_

Sora, thoroughly annoyed, summoned his Keyblade. “Who’s that?”

_“This calls for a celebration…”_

On cue, a small herd of Dusks appeared ahead. Donald and Goofy went on the offensive and charged, but the rest were caught off guard as even more Nobodies came in from behind. Leon turned to face them, but instead of fighting the monsters blew right past.

Alex cut them off, protecting the entrance to the bailey with his Lockshield. The Dusks hesitated but clearly would not be deterred from taking down the gate that was blocking their path. Sora and Leon gathered the rest of the Nobodies into the same area, only to have three more appear. They took a stance back to back.

“We can't let them break those gates!” shouted Leon, worried. “If they do, they'll get into the town!”

Everyone nodded, move into position to protect the gate. For the first time Angelina was completely alone. Heeding Leon’s words, the team chose to work on their own enemies with nothing more than the occasional glance to make sure she was okay. Looking at the enemy she had chosen, a single lone Dusk, the situation suddenly became very real. It was kind of frightening to think about…but Angelina shook those thoughts right out of her head. Now was the time to prove herself, and staring this thing down was getting her nowhere.

She threw out a round-house kick, but the Dusk saw it coming and twisted out of the way. It quickly recovered and lashed out with a counter strike. Angelina blocked by sweeping the attack away with her bare arms.

Before she could marvel how little that hurt something strange happened. A foreign instinct took over, and with an almost gliding motion Angelina had maneuvered herself behind the Nobody, bewildering them both. _What was that? Wait, wasn’t that the Reversal technique?_

Of course, while Angelina thought she was quickly losing her advantage. Just as the Dusk turned to face her she realized now was the time to strike. She slid forward and hit with a right elbow-smash leading into a right back-fist, followed by a left full-twist punch. And to her surprise…the Dusk burst into dark, smoky tendrils. She had done it. She had defeated her first Nobody.

By now everyone else had just about taken care of the first wave, with the help of the Claymore cropping up every now and again. Angelina had gotten out of her fight just in time to watch Alex perform Blizzard for the first time, feeling a faint trace as cold energy as she now expected. This made her consider asking Merlin about it, the next time they got the chance.

The last of the Dusks were destroyed, but this only brought on a new set of Nobodies. These guys had cylindrical heads and carried a pair of swords on them. There were also some Creepers thrown in for fun.

“Samurai Nobodies!” Alex announced with a slight groan, readying his shield.

“Alright then.” Leon raised a hand, fire beginning to engulf it. “Here we go!” He tossed the fire-ball into the crowd, which exploded on contact.

Alex decided to take care of gate-guarding duty again and the rest went after the flock. Feeling confident now, Angelina chose to go after one of the new Samurais. She briefly wondered how Leon was seeing her progress, but soon enough she was caught up in the fight.

There was clearly a big disadvantage here…the katana. The Samurai Nobody had more range and blocking would definitely be something to worry about, seeing as blocking a blade bare-handed didn’t end well. Also, as a higher level Nobody this guy was faster. Luckily he was just as easy to trick with Reversal as a Dusk so Angelina took advantage of this every chance she got, but hits were harder to come by.

It was only a matter of time before her luck ran out. Even the mindless Nobody found Angelina’s strategy too predictable and managed to catch her off guard. The back of its blade struck her ribs, winding her and causing her to stumble.

“Angel!” Goofy saw this and knew how dangerous the situation had become, but a look from Leon reminded him to stay back.

That was painful. Fighting was scary. She looked at the monster and for the first time saw that it seriously wanted to kill her. Holding her side, which was quickly becoming nothing more than a dull ache thanks to her outfit, she panicked about what to do next. Could she get an attack in without getting hurt again? Getting hurt was scary, maybe Goofy would help…

Time was up. The Samurai raised its blade again…

_**“Thunder!"** _

A tingling energy exploded inside her chest, flowing down her arms and through her outstretched hands. A split second latter an electric bolt struck down from the heavens with a surprisingly loud crash and blinding white light, effectively cutting through the enemy. The Samurai Nobody seized for a second as the electricity flowed through it, and then disappeared.

The sound was so unexpected that the crew looked up from the Nobodies they had just vanquished. Alex gasped, partially from exhaustion but mostly out of amazement. “Angel…was that you?”

“That Thunder,” began Sora, “was it just me, or did that seem more powerful than it should be?”

Donald huffed. “Well, that was no Thundaga…but that was really something.”

Alex looked to be in thought again. “But…didn’t Merlin say you couldn’t use magic yet without a weapon?”

Angelina flushed, not used to the extra attention. “I-I don’t know! He did say that but…I just did it. I don’t know how I did it.”

Sora was about to say something when he suddenly grinned. “Well either way, looks like we get something for our trouble!” he announced, taking hold of a glowing blue sphere he caught floating around.

They were more of the magic spheres that Merlin had given them, presenting themselves to members of the party who needed to learn them. Alex got a little yellow Thunder spell and, finding it bobbing to her left, Angelina nabbed a Fire spell. A burning heat filled her, and she sensed another magical pathway around her heart open up.

They’re victory was short-lived, as the mysterious voices piped up again.

_“The Keyblade, the Lockshield and the mystery girl’s…shall we say, ‘uncanny’ grasp of magic. Truly marvelous weapons indeed, were they only in more...capable hands...”_

More voices joined in the laughter that followed the statement, as though he had said something clever. Sora, for his part, was officially riddled out. “Show yourselves!”

In response to his demand a dark vortex opened at the top of the stone barricade. A tall figure stepped out, draped in a hooded black leather coat. As the hood was up, the man’s identity was impossible to gauge. At his signal five more portals appeared on either side of him, each harboring another similarly cloaked figure.

Alex took a step back, evidently aware of their company’s true nature. “Take a good look, guys. These are the last six leaders of Organization XIII.”

Angelina studied them, unsure what to think. She knew that they would have to fight these guys throughout their adventure, but had no idea what Organization XIII’s true intentions were. If they were the guys who put Roxas through so much trouble than that was enough reason for her to stop them…but still, she was curious. Going on a hunch, Angelina tried to activate those weird sensations that accompanied magic consciously. She wondered just how far away it could work…

“Good,” huffed Sora. “Now we can settle this!”

The talkative Organization Member laughed. “What a shame...and here I thought we could be friends.” Once again, they activated their portals to disappear.

“Stop!” Donald shouted, running along the barrier in vain to catch them. However, before they got far a portal appeared in front of them. This annoyed him. “What's the big idea?”

“Oopsy-daisy!” chortled the man who came to confront them.

“Oi, you're Xigbar, right?” Alex asked with another slight groan. “The Freeshooter, number 2? You're the only one of them who has that kind of ridiculous 'surfer dude' accent.”

The man laughed in surprise. “Wow, man! That's absolutely right! I guess the boss was right about you…oh? Having fun there, lass?”

Xigbar had glanced at Angelina, who was still concentrating on those odd feelings. She only noticed it once the Organization Member showed himself. There was an energy about him that felt somehow empty, but very powerful. It was hard to put into words. She stepped back, afraid the emptiness would swallow her. “W-What are you looking at?”

He shrugged. She could only assume that under his hood, Xigbar was smirking. “Now don’t be frightened! What you sense won’t hurt you. ‘Course, it’s not going to help you much either, seeing as I don’t have a heart for you to read.”

Sora stepped in front of her, brandishing his Keyblade. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m not in the mood. Now get out of the way!”

“Yeah!” Donald jumped in. “Or we’re gonna _make_ you!”

Xigbar was not amused. “See, that would work…if I were just any old dude. 'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing 'any old' about me.”

“We're not at your level yet,” Alex admitted reluctantly, as the only one who had not taken a fighting stance.

“Aw, c'mon Alex!” complained Sora. “It's just tough talk coming from someone who let his Nobody flunkies do the fighting while he stood on the sidelines!”

“Oh, dear, I think you got the wrong impression,” muttered the Nobody. “Why don't I remind you how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is?”

“Remind me?” questioned Sora, his expression fierce.

“That's  _right_ ,” Xigbar laughed. “He used to give me that same exact look!”

“I guess you think you can psych me out by saying really random stuff!”

“Gee... I just don't know,” he mocked sarcastically. The Nobody was about to turn when something occurred to him. He gestured at Alex. “Hey, quick question.”

“Me?” the boy asked, startled. “...Uh, okay. Shoot.”

“Lemme think...” the Organization Member stalled. “I'm kinda curious...how many times did you 'Game Over' when fighting me as Sora in the game? Somethin' to think about… Be a good boy now!” And with that ominous, fourth-wall-breaking statement, a dark portal formed around the man and swallowed him whole.

“Wait!” Donald chased after the slim remnants of darkness that remained, passing through and slamming to the ground. “Nuts! He got away!”

Sora, who had finally calmed down, sheathed his Keyblade and said, “That was weird. _Who_  gave him the same look?”

“Y'know, I think he was just tryin' to confuse ya,” Goofy comforted.

The hero grinned in relief. “Yeah, you're right. Only one me!”

Angelina’s response to this obvious foreshadowing was to awkwardly, but subtly avoid the main character’s eye. The key word here being _subtly_. Alex, however, couldn’t help trying to correct Sora. Catching himself midway, he sounded something like this: “Ah, well, no... Er...”

 _Smooth…_ Angelina could’ve face-palmed herself.

There was no escape now. “What is it?”

The two Interferences shared a look. Angelina begged through her expressive hand gestures: _No, don’t do it!_ But he shook his head and shrugged as if to say: _What else can I do?_ Alex proceeded to explain. “The thirteenth member of Organization XIII was a boy named Roxas. He betrayed them some time ago. He wielded the Keyblade, and bore incredible resemblance to you.”

“Okay...” said Sora, taking it in. “But what does that have to do with me?”

“Well…”

“Actually, can I take it from here?” asked Angelina.

Alex faltered, not used to being interrupted mid-lecture, but remembered that she was the more reliable source on Roxas. “Oh right, go ahead.”

“You see,” she began, “Roxas is a part of you, and you of him. He was the only member of Organization XIII who could use the Keyblade because he’s your Nobody.”

This surprised him. “Wha- _What?_  But... how is that possible? I couldn't have had a Nobody, I never even became a Heart-!” Sora paused, remembering the events of the year prior. “Oh… But what do we do about it?”

Angelina sighed. “The thing is you don’t really have to worry about it. When Roxas left the Organization, he was put into a virtual world for safekeeping until he could be returned to your heart. When I interfered here they put me there too, probably so I wouldn’t mess things up or so they could observe me or something. I got to know Roxas while I was there, so I know he’s a good guy! I don’t think he’ll be giving us trouble.”

Sora and the others processed all that. “So…where is Roxas now?”

She smiled sadly. “He faded away when you woke up.”

Goofy watched her face, realization hitting him. “Oh…so you really _were_ cryin’ when we met!”

“Yeah, kinda…” the girl nodded.

“You know…” said Sora slowly, placing a hand over his chest, “I think I know where he is. But it’s kinda sad. Now that I know about him, I kinda want to meet him.” The young man was deep in thought, looking somewhat depressed.

Alex, sensing his friend’s doubt, jumped back in. “You're still Sora, though. It's that name that's written on your membership card, right?”

“Right!” Sora smiled, pulling out his membership card proudly. “The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member–”

Suddenly, a blinding flash of light burst forth from the card. Afraid it had somehow spontaneously combusted, Sora let it go and watched it soar into the air before choosing a safe place to hover. In response to the light, the Keyblade summoned itself and set its tip aglow.

“Huh?”

“What’s this?” asked Leon, finally catching up.

Goofy and Sora shared a look. “Gawrsh, ya think...?”

He nodded, lifting the shining Keyblade and pointing it at the light. The area burst with endless light, causing the others to have to squint or throw their arms up for shade. The feeling was intense, burning, illuminating, and most of all light. Angelina felt herself grow dizzy from the overload of information.

With a loud click it ended. Sora was poised with his Keyblade straight in air and the card had disappeared. “Ohh... now I get it,” Sora mumbled as he lowered his arm. “That must've been the gate Yen Sid talked about.”

“Gate?” asked Angelina, still shaking off her fatigue. “You mean those paths between worlds we’re supposed to unlock, right?”

“Yeah, I guess this means we can go to the next world.”

“Oh boy!” shouted Donald in excitement, jumping up and down.

Sora nodded his head to Leon in apology. “Sorry to run, Leon, but other worlds are calling.”

“Hold it.” Everyone froze, confused as Leon held up his hand to stop them. “I still haven’t given Angel’s evaluation.”

Oh right, _that_. In all the excitement it had completely slipped Angelina’s mind. They waited in anticipation as Leon took his sweet time.

Finally, he said, “Frankly, it could have been better. In the time it took each of us to take down twice the amount, you took down two Nobodies. Your martial arts could use a lot of work. But…”

“But?” Sora and Alex echoed. Alex caught himself and quickly turned himself away in embarrassment.

“I only asked that you not call for help when you didn’t need it,” the man continued, letting a small smirk slip by. “That was my only condition and you passed. Besides, using a spell you just learned without a weapon is impressive by itself. I think with a little training you could prove yourself useful to this team.”

Angelina was at a loss for words. “W-Wow! Thank you very much!”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he cautioned. “If I have any reason to suspect you’re dragging these guys down I won’t hesitate to take you off the team for extra training.”

Extra training? That was good, at least that meant it wouldn’t be a permanent leave. “Still, thank you Leon.”

Alex watched her carefully. Something was obviously on his mind. “Hey Angel…when we get back to the ship we need to talk.”

“Huh? About what?"

“Well…” he looked awkward about this. “It was that thing Xigbar said to you, it got me thinking… Anyway we’ll talk then, okay?”

It took her a second, but Angelina finally understood what he was saying. “Oh… Okay.”

“Speaking of which,” Leon started, directed at Alex. “What was that guy saying about 'Game Over' back there?”

“Oh, that?” Alex actually let himself laugh at this. “It was basically a veiled threat. Basically, how many times had I been beaten by him while playing as Sora in the game format. Actually, I'd never lost to Xigbar, even on the high difficulty mode.”

“Still, this isn't a game,” he chided sternly.

“Ugh, don't  _remind_  me!” Alex groaned in response. “I was just not prepared to start battling at this age. And now I gotta go help save the worlds, basically!”

“You still have the advantage of knowing everything in advance,” Leon said as he finally left the company. “Even if you aren't a good fighter yet, you're worth more than you look.”

They all watched him leave. As he did Alexander sighed heavily.

“Still, fighting is freakin'  _tiring_...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alex, I dare you to say basically one more time... I swear to you all, I did not write that last bit of dialogue. I'm better than that.
> 
> So Angelina has been singled out and her capabilities are called into question...which sounds a little fishy, when the only girl on the team is scrutinized in such a manner. I'm gonna take full responsibility for that one, because yikes! If you can't tell, I really didn't like writing myself back then and the experience hasn't changed much for me now, so it's hard for me to turn attention to her without feeling like she's taking over the whole story. But hey, focusing on Angel is way better than simply repeating the same story over again, so whatever.
> 
> The thing about this scene in particular, as one of the first to make Angelina the central character, is that it kind of reveals a lot about my attitude towards certain aspects of The Interference, and even the original games. You see, I never really bought into the idea that weapons like the Keyblade should just be handed over to whoever innately fulfills the qualifications. Sure, there's the Station of Awakening test, but I feel that one should prove their worth just to be nominated. So that was my main reason for holding off giving Angel her weapon, even though the other two got their's immediately. I wanted to watch her struggle and find her feet without it first, so when she finally does get it the moment will be all the sweeter. That, and if she happens to loose it Angel will already know how to take care of herself unlike some spiky-haired protagonist we know. :^)
> 
> Buut, it does still kind of suck to have to watch Angel do extra credit while the guys get off scott-free. Sorry. :^(


	26. Fragments of Sorrow (Part 1)

Moments after boarding the _Highwind_ , Angelina caught Alex admiring himself again in the reflection of the glassed dome. She knew that he was just accepting his new look, but found it hilarious all the same.

Finally she snickered and said, “Hey Alex, I’m ready whenever you’re done preening yourself.”

He jumped, trying to pretend it never happened. “I-I’m not! Don’t go assuming anything.”

 _Wow, he needs to lighten up a little…_ “You did want to talk to me, right?”

“So what is it?” asked Sora, who was steering as Donald helped Chip and Dale with navigation.

Alex regained his composure and was back into lecture-mode. “Remember what Xigbar said? ‘What you sense won’t hurt you’ and ‘I have no heart to read’.”

Sora pondered the words. “Hmm… To be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention at the time. It just sounded like some sort of weird threat.”

“Well the second part’s not much of a mystery,” added Donald. “Nobodies don’t have hearts.”

“Yeah, that much is clear,” continued Alex. “But it bothered me. You’ve been acting fidgety since we left the Tower, Angel. I have a feeling you knew what he was talking about.”

All eyes were on her, which was unnerving because Sora was supposed to be avoiding meteors. Trying to find the words to explain, Angelina said the first thing that popped into her head. “U-Um…Alex, Sora, give me your hands!”

“W-What?” Alex stuttered as she grabbed his hand. Sora held his hand out to her as Donald took the wheel.

Before either of them could question her, Angelina placed their hands together between her own. It happened just as she expected it to, but she couldn’t help a slight gasp none the less. Sora’s energetic warmth and Alexander’s icy coldness met at the center and reacted to one another. She could sense them trying to destroy each other and she understood…it was a miniature battle between Light and Darkness, creating sparks of friction between each energy. And it was these forces that gave her the illusion of temperature difference.

“Angel? What are you doing?”

Angelina shook herself out of her thoughts. “So you really don’t feel that at all?”

“Feel what?” Alex asked skeptically, retracting his hand.

“Yeah, what was that about?” added Sora.

“I think I’ve got it!” the girl rejoiced happily, throwing the boys into further confusion. “I’ve been getting these strange feelings ever since Sora woke up, but I’ve only noticed recently what they were about.”

“Care to explain?” The other Interference was still surly about her grabbing him.

Angelina paused for breath. “Well, when Yen Sid pulled me aside at the Tower he mentioned something about ‘sensing’. He seemed to think I had some sort of ability, but he didn’t explain what it was.”

That piqued his interest. “That’s what he wanted to talk to you about? Any idea what he meant?”

“Not at first, but I noticed at Hollow Bastion that this sensing-thing seems to come up a lot around magic. Every time someone used a spell, I could feel it. I could tell what kind of spell it was and how powerful it was. And that’s not all. I could also feel power in people when they weren’t using magic.”

“So that thing with our hands?” Sora gestured wildly to illustrate his point.

She nodded. “I only just realized what I was feeling from you guys were your Light and Darkness.”

“Wait!” squawked Donald, jumping out of his seat. Goofy rushed in and grabbed the wheel. “I’ve heard about this somewhere before! Sensing is a rare ability only magic users can know. You have to be born with it. Master Yen Sid is the only one I know who can use it.”

“Did Yen Sid tell you anything else?” asked Alex.

“I think so…” Angelina struggled to remember the exact words. “I asked him what I could do and he said ‘A heart is like another world itself. It will be your duty to calm the storms in those hearts’.”

Nobody could think of anything to say to that. As they each tried to figure out what that meant, Goofy suddenly got up. “Well that’s good news!”

“Did you figure it out?” asked Donald.

“Not a clue, but it doesn’t matter,” the shield-master said confidently. “Master Yen Sid said that Angel has a place here and that’s good enough. I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually!”

Sora brightened up at that. “Yeah…and that probably means she has a weapon somewhere! I bet she’ll find it on the next world.”

“You really think so?” asked Angelina, flustered.

“And that sensing ability might be useful,” added Alex. “Donald did say it was the mark of a skilled magic user.”

She blushed. This was too much. “Thanks…”

“Um…guys?” Alex was watching the monitor, looking more worried by the second. “Who’s steering the ship?”

For a moment no one knew what he meant, but it suddenly dawned on them all at once. The _Highwind_ was unmanned. Sora, Donald, and Goofy scrambled back to their seats, taking the helm and making some radical course adjustments that threw those left standing off their feet.

Bracing herself against a wall, Angelina muttered, “Space-travel can be scary…”

“Yeah, it can be,” Alex laughed somewhat nervously.

“We’re here!” Sora called, beckoning them to the monitor.

Angelina looked to it with excitement. It felt like a beginning. “Where is it?”

“The Land of Dragons,” replied Alex knowingly.

And with that, Sora hit the ‘Disembark’ button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember that this scene was one of the most fun to write, in no small part due to the accidental comedy that ensued. But more to that, I like to think of the gummi ship trips as a chance for the characters to decompress and get to know one another a little more. This time Angel opens up about her budding abilities, kicking the dumb keeping-secrets-for-the-sake-of-drama trope right out of here. Also...I love space but space travel scares the ever-loving shit out of me. I just want to make that very clear.
> 
> Also also, I like Alex's pride/narcissism as a character trait, but I'm disappointed it wasn't called upon more in The Interference. I will remedy that problem one playful jab at a time.


	27. Fragments of Sorrow (Part 2)

They landed in a secluded area, amongst a thicket of bamboo in the mountains. Angelina saw how much clearer the air was than in Twilight Town or Hollow Bastion, noting that they were probably far from civilization. She hoped they wouldn’t have to sleep outside, but otherwise she was excited with anticipation.

As the party took in the scenery, Angelina noticed a thin trail of smoke above the tall grass. Exchanging curious looks, the group set off to investigate. The bamboo eventually broke out into a path that led to a clearing. At the end of the clearing was a person in green and black plated armor, peaking through the bamboo carefully. The soldier was looking so intently at the scene below that they crept up unnoticed.

Next to the soldier was a large flat boulder, and illuminated on its face by a small fire was the shadow of a large reptilian monster. Angelina tensed in the anticipation of battle, but had the vague impression she had seen that shape somewhere before…

Donald eyed the shadow nervously. He whispered to Sora, “A Heartless?”

“Let’s get the jump on it!” Sora replied, leading his fine-feathered friend into a stealthy attack.

Goofy looked after them, uncertain. “Gawrsh, maybe we'd better look before we leap!”

Angelina almost followed them, but caught Alex’s silent face palm and decided against it. Evidently there was more to this situation then meets the eye, so it was better to stand back and watch.

The shadow heard the duo’s approach, slithering out from behind the rocks and menacingly towards the soldier, who also noticed their presence. The moment it came into full view they slowed to a stop, their eyes widening in recognition. It was a fiery red lizard with a long body and stubby legs, winding his way up to the soldier’s shoulder for protection. Everyone relaxed, realizing who it was.

“Is that Mushu?” Goofy asked, making his way with Alex and Angelina at their own pace.

“Yeah, that's me,” replied the little lizard from his safe perch, more confidently than he appeared. “I'm lethal and legendary! Now, why don't you all scram?”

Sora grinned, seeing that his old friend hadn’t changed. “Mushu! We missed you!”

Mushu went on, clearly not listening. “Yeah, well you'd better hope I miss you, or else you're...you're...” Finally he seemed to see the group for who they were and instantly changed his tune. “Sora! Donald! Goofy!”

Angelina couldn’t help smiling at Disney character, though she didn’t remember any earlier encounter with Mushu from what she read…

“You know them?” the soldier asked, still deciding weather or not to attack.

“Yeah, we used to kick all kinds of bad guy butt together,” said Mushu as he sauntered towards the group. He propped himself up against Sora’s leg like they were proper partners in crime. “I helped them out of some really tight spots. Right?”

The boy laughed, pulling back his leg to watch the lizard tumble. “Something like that.”

From the ground, Mushu looked up at the two Interferences for the first time. “So who are the new guys?”

“That’s Alex and Angel,” introduced Donald. “They’re with us.”

“Hello,” said Angelina out of nervousness.

Alex decided to keep the conversation going. He looked at the soldier. “Who’s this?”

“I'm Mulan,” responded the soldier, sounding distinctly feminine. Then, in a deeper voice, “Er, no, um... I-I mean...”

Mushu came to his rescue. “Ping!”

Regaining his composure, he restated, “I am Fa Ping, son of Fa Zhou.”

No one knew how to approach the strange behavior, so they let it be. Sora asked, “So, uh, Ping, how do you know Mushu here?”

“Mushu's one of my family's guardians,” explained Ping, glad to be out of the spotlight.

“Gawrsh,” said Goofy, “we didn't know we were borrowing someone as important as a family guardian.”

“Yeah, that's right.” Mushu returned to Ping’s side. “And that means you're up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here.”

“Mushu…” Ping’s voice went up again.

“I don't think they'll mind. Ain't that right?”

“Sound fair,” agreed Sora.

Ping obviously didn’t want to impose, but brightened up after some consideration. “I was just on my way to join the Imperial Army. I might be able to fit in better if I'm with guys like you.”

That struck Sora as odd. “What do you mean by 'fit in'?”

“Oh,” realized Goofy, “you're pretending to be a boy, aren't you?”

Sora and Donald were surprised, needless to say. Alex and Angelina were, of course, aware of this fact the entire time. Sora looked at Ping with new eyes, suddenly seeing what Goofy meant. “You’re a…girl?”

Ping looked hopeful. “You didn’t notice?”

“Not me,” Donald admitted.

“I think it's working,” she said excitedly to Mushu.

The guardian deity shook his head skeptically. “I don't know, those two would fall for anything…”

“I’m right here!” announced Sora.

“Well, if that’s the case…” continued Goofy, who was on a role, “what should we do about Angel? We might get in trouble if we try to bring her to the army.”

It was a fair point. The Imperial Army had a strict ‘no-girls-allowed’ policy, so if they tried to bring Angelina in as is it would bring up a lot of questions. It could also likely land her in jail. Taking a moment to consider the options, she asked, “Would it be too out of the question if I also went in disguise?”

“I don’t know…” muttered Alex. “A woman impersonating a soldier is punishable by death, is it really worth the risk?”

This surprised Sora. “Seriously? Then wouldn’t that mean Ping also-?”

“It’s fine,” Ping interrupted, sounding authoritative. “I understood the risks when I left my home and I will bear the consequences, should it come to that.”

The conversation started to weigh heavily on Angelina. After all, she had only just accepted the idea of fighting. She wasn’t prepared to die just yet, and she wasn’t brave like ‘Ping’. It had been a neat idea at the time, but she wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment just yet.

“I-I probably wouldn’t make a very convincing guy anyway,” she stammered, a little ashamed at her own cowardice. “I want to fight with you guys, but I guess I’m already in the way… Let’s just hope they’ll at least let me stay on the property.”

The group looked concerned, but didn’t say anything. Ping and Mushu led the way down the mountain side, Alex and Goofy exchanging words not far behind them. Angelina didn’t move, still a little disheartened. It took her a second to notice that Sora was still with her.

“Hey,” he said, putting on his best face, “don’t let it get to you too much. I’m sure you’ll get the next world.”

She knew he meant well, but it didn’t lift her spirits much. “Yeah, but it’s always ‘next world’, isn’t it…”

Sora grinned, which was unexpected. “You’ll see, by the time we leave you’ll be ready to take on anything! I have an idea.”

Angelina snapped her head in his direction, eyes widened. “What? What idea?”

“You’ll find out later,” he said mischievously, running to catch up with the others. “Now hurry up, before we’re left behind!”

The girl chased him, irritated. “No really, what idea!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It would just figure that the first world we go to after that last scene also don't like the idea of Angel fighting...though for more directly sexist reasons this time. I like the idea of the imperial army as this no-girls-allowed club full of snot-nosed little boys. Ha ha...sadly reality isn't so innocent.
> 
> Sora has a plan! This was yet another one of my tactics to try to steer the story in a different direction. Hopefully it will work out.
> 
> "I probably wouldn't make a very convincing guy..." A quote that sadly still applies. :^(


	28. Fragments of Sorrow (Part 3)

The encampment was what one could expect of any ancient imperial military unit. It was set up in a field not far from the mountains but it tried its best to conserve space, with small one-man tents crammed side by side. The walls were high and sturdy, complete with guard towers and Imperial Amy flags. It was an impressive setup that could probably be broken down and rebuilt somewhere else within a day.

Even before they reached the gates, the party could see soldiers training in spear-combat, hand-to-hand, and the infamous pole-climbing exercise. They were quickly spotted from the watch towers and were met at the gate by a sour-looking man in blue robes and a comically tall hat. He squinted down his nose at the newcomers, as though already judging whether or not they were cut out for military life.

“New recruits?” asked the man. He inspected his clipboard, an inked brush at the ready. “Do you have credentials? Which family do you belong to?”

The group was stunned with the sudden barrage of questions. All Sora could do was stammer and Alex wasn’t much more help. Ping stepped forward, the only one who prepared for this ahead of time.

“I am Fa Ping, son of Fa Zhou.” She handed him a scroll, which the man unfurled and read with interest. “My father fell ill, so he sent me in his place.”

The man looked up from the scroll with suspicion. “I didn’t know Fa Zhou had a son…”

Ping fidgeted nervously. “Er, he…doesn’t like to talk about me much.”

He studied her, shaking his head slightly in disapproval. “I can see why.” The rude man turned to the others, faltering when he saw Angelina in the back. “What is a _woman_ doing here? If you plan on enlisting her you will face execution!”

Angelina tried to explain herself. “Actually, that’s not-”

“Silence!” He continued to the men as though she wasn’t there. “You will do well to teach her to hold her tongue in a man’s presence.”

That rubbed everyone the wrong way. Sora stepped up, obviously pissed. “Hey, you can’t talk to her like-!”

“What my friend means,” said Ping, “is that we would like to request that she stay here as a guest, not a member of the unit. We wouldn’t think of dishonoring the Imperial Army.”

“I don’t see why I should…” The man was growing more and more suspicious.

“Please,” implored Alex, trying to remain in control of his emotions, “at least let us ask the captain if it’s alright.”

There was a tense pause, neither side wanting to back down. Finally he said, “Very well, I’ll go get Captain Shang. Then we’ll see.”

He left them to wander the camp just as a gong rang for lunch, thankfully forgetting to ask anyone else for identification. As the group began to gravitate towards a line of soldiers for food (it had been a while since anyone had eaten) Angelina couldn’t stop thinking about what had just happened. That was the first time anyone had completely devaluated her existence like that. It was a weird feeling; she almost forgot to be offended. She hoped there wouldn’t be many more moments like that.

Next to her, Alex also looked bothered. “That was different…”

“What?”

“That guy…Chi-Fu, right? He never really had a part in the game, especially nothing about credentials.”

The girl shrugged. “Well, this is real. Things are going to be different.”

He still seemed a little ill at ease about that, but accepted it. This journey was going to need a lot more improvising than Alex had originally thought, but in a way that made it more exciting.

The line started to move forward and as Sora took a step, a stocky soldier nudged him to cut in line. The man, a good deal shorter than the teen, rubbed his hands together in anticipation of the meal. In a gruff voice more akin to a smoker, he said, “’Bout time we got some grub.”

“Hey, what was that for?” asked Sora with a good deal of indignation.

“Yeah, no cutting!” added Donald.

The offending man turned on them with a sneer, balling his hand into a fist. “What, you wanna fight about it?”

Sora couldn’t refuse a challenge. “If that’s what you’re asking for…”

Before the others could register the escalating recklessness of the situation the three were at it, wrestling and throwing punches in an all out brawl. The other men in line made nothing of it, as this sort of roughhousing was the daily norm. Two more soldiers, one tall and lanky, the other rotund and baby-faced, casually strolled up to the line.

“Hey, a space in line!” said the taller one as he pushed his way through the rabble.

His friend sniffed the air, a peaceful smile lighting his face. “I wonder what they’re serving for lunch today.”

“Knuckle sandwiches!” The stout man pried Donald off his chest and threw a punch at the tall soldier, irritated that he took his spot.

“That does it!”

The situation was now completely out of hand. Angelina wasn’t sure whether to go help, run, or laugh. “Shouldn’t we be doing something?”

Ping stepped in at the girl’s suggestion and attempted to quell the scuffle. “Please!”

The soldiers stopped the fight, but more in surprise at the sudden pleasantries than out of common courtesy. The tall one let out a snort of laughter. “ _Please!_ ”

“What a girl!” sneered the stout man.

Hesitant, Ping tried her best to man up. “Uh…knock it off!”

“Knock what off?” he asked innocently.

Sora finally got himself up, more than a little disgruntled. “You punched me!”

Donald nodded, backing up his friend. “Cutting in line!”

The skinny man laughed. “What a shrimp!”

As though the situation wasn’t bad enough, Mushu decided to take that last comment personally. He clawed his way over Ping’s armor, shouting, “Who you callin’ a shrimp, panda-lips? I’m a bona-fide guardian dragon!”

Panicked as the attention was drawn to herself and her great guardian dragon, Ping hastily shoved Mushu back down her breast plate. She coughed, trying her best to cover it up. “L-let’s just get back in line, okay?”

“Whose side are you on?” Sora grumbled. “I just got slugged!”

“Want some more?” the stout man threatened.

Just as the situation looked as though it was about to go out of control once more, a loud commanding voice barked from the tent across from them. “Soldiers! Get back in line!”

Everyone became very still, shaken. “It’s the Captain!” exclaimed Ping, quickly backing away from his fellow brawlers.

The order came from a tall man, just exiting a particularly large, important-looking tent, Chi-fu following close behind. The man cut an imposing figure as he strode towards the source of the commotion, wearing high-ranking armor and a red cape. He eyes showed that he was in no mood for funny-business. The other soldiers hastily reassembled their line as he walked among their ranks, studying each member of his troops carefully.

As the Captain neared the group he inspected each member slowly, his eyes finally resting on Angelina. His expression was unreadable. “These are the new recruits you informed me of?”

Chi-Fu nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, Captain Shang. They’re the ones that tried to bring in a woman. Can you imagine?”

Shang nodded, as though uninterested in his words. “You all must realize that this could be a serious offence. We should discuss this in my-”

He stops, stepping back abruptly at what he sees. All around dark blotches on the ground begin to form, taking the shape of Shadow Heartless. Everyone, including Shang himself and many of the soldiers, take out their weapons. Ping was one of the first to take a swing and the only one to connect. “What are they?”

“Heartless!” answered Sora, quickly getting himself in the game.

The soldiers were having a tough time of it, unable to do any damage with their blades. The best they could do was hold the swarm back, but it was clear that their resolve wasn’t going to last. Alex made a note of it.

“Sora,” he began, taking out a Heartless with a swipe of his Lockshield. “We’re going to need to keep morale up, or else we might as well be finished.”

Sora nodded. “Ping, I hope you’re ready!”

From there the battle raged. For those experienced with Heartless the fighting was easy, but the little critters were all over the campsite and had plenty of places to hide. They helped out the soldiers whenever needed as the slow process of elimination was underway. This was perfect for Angelina, who in all the commotion had taken the opportunity to get as much fighting in as possible. That, and she was having fun with her new spells.

“Fire!”

The first time she used it was just as much of a rush as the thunder spell. A warm burning feeling would spread from her heart to her hands as a bright burst of flame engulfed the enemy. Angelina used at least four spells picking off targets, but even though she could feel it drain her strength she couldn’t help loving the feeling of power. After the last spell she started wobbling, unable to see straight from fatigue. Her heart felt empty, a sign that her magic was near its end. She could sense that something bad would happen if she kept going, so as the battle wound to a close the girl simply punched the Shadows out of existence, regaining her magic in small bits with each kill.

The battle was ended with no serious injuries. As the soldiers went to fix any crushed tents and remake lunch (as the cooking pot had been toppled over), Captain Shang made his way back to the group. “You four,” he said, indicating Sora, Alex, Donald, and Goofy. “What are your names?” Everyone gave a quick introduction. “You are welcome in my troop. Your fighting skills will be a great asset.”

Ping was surprised to not be included. She began again, “I am the son of Fa Zhou-”

“You can go home.”

The young woman blanched. “But that would dishonor my family!”

Shang gave her a sharp look. “You’d rather dishonor my troops?”

“How about he fights with us?” Alex suggested. “That way, neither he nor your troops will be dishonored if we take most of the work. He just needs a little more experience. Give him a chance!”

The captain considered this.  “So you want to be tested?” The group nodded. “Our orders are to ambush Shan-Yu's army on their way here. They should be coming through the mountain pass.”

“We’ll smash them!” cried Donald in triumph.

Shang narrowed his eyes. “I doubt that. You five will be the advance party. Scout out the mountain for my troops.”

“That’s it?” asked Sora. He turned to Ping. “No problem, right?”

Ping nodded with determination. “R-right.”

“Now, about the girl you brought,” Shang continued, “she has nowhere else to go?”

“That’s right,” affirmed Sora. “And even if she did, she couldn’t go back by herself.

“Well, as long as you don’t plan on enlisting her I will allow it. However.” He turned to Angelina. “You must promise that she will not fight during her stay. Any more military activity while on the property will be considered the same as fighting for the Imperial Army. She would face the same punishments as attempted enlistment.”

Angelina stood straight, trying not to flinch. “I-I make my own promises. I won’t fight or use any magic while my friends are in your troops. You have my word on that.”

“Hmph! Who could trust a word she says?”

Chi-Fu, who had been hiding from the Heartless until now, walked briskly up to the captain. He wore a scowl on his face, but had a malicious glint in his eyes. “Captain, you can’t seriously be allowing this woman to go unpunished. Just look at how she fought all those…those things! Not to mention the way she spoke to you, without permission no less.”

Sora and Alex glared at him, both ready to start something, but they knew better than to start a fight in front of the captain. Shang barely took his eyes off the girl, his expression once again unreadable. “For now, I will hold you to your promise. To break it would be to stain both your honor and mine. I trust it won’t come to that.”

Angelina bowed her head. It seemed appropriate. “Thank you, Captain.”

He turned back to the others, only acknowledging her with a slight nod. “I’ll brief you on the details for your first mission now. A strange figure was seen at the checkpoint…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing I've learned about myself through writing: I REALLY enjoy writing racist/sexist/homophobic/etc. assholes. Like, the really obvious ones like Chi-Fu here. They just tend to be...really funny to me? They're way easier to write than generic thugs (their motives are more solid), plus they're not as tricky to write as...more subtle racists. Everyone knows who to hate when they're so comically written, and though I want to learn how to write douchebaggery more subtly it's nice to not have someone accuse me of sharing such views when I do. ^^;
> 
> A few things to note about the "realism" I added in, one thing I wanted was for bit players to speak more. Chi-Fu was pretty much non-existent in the game, and when I saw his bits in the manga I was like 'damn, it IS weird that no one ever questions Sora and the gang!' It's also a little weird that, even though Mulan is there, the messages on sexism, for better or worse, weren't very present in the game. Chi-Fu is an easy figure to rile against, so I figured he could maybe be a vehicle for discussion on the topic.
> 
> Also, time is a thing in this story. The Interference (and the game, to a certain extent) made it out that time in the Kingdom Hearts universe was condensed so that everything that happens on the adventure (with the exception of the Roxas story) happened in one uninterrupted sequence. I kind of thought that was bullshit. This weird issue was kind of explained away in The Interference by saying that the outfits take care of fatigue and hunger (which I agree with to an extent), but after a while without sleeping or eating it just seems kind of insane. Like, it makes sense that they would arrive at each new world during the day, but it can't be constantly day in worlds where they just do SO MUCH.
> 
> So yes, time will pass so I decree. It was late in the morning when Alex and Angel met Sora, and from there it's just been one long, extended day. They're getting exhausted, sure, but shit needs to get done and yeah the outfits are helping. But not to worry, the day will be ending in a few scenes.


	29. Fragments of Sorrow (Part 4)

Angelina sighed, watching her friends pass through the gates on their first mission. Seeing nothing else to do, she found a comfortable spot of wall and slumped down into a sitting position. Along with the usual feeling of uselessness, Angelina felt a longing to use her magic. The others thought of the phenomenon as commonplace (with perhaps the exception of Alex), but she wanted to continue discovering more about this strange power.

She considered practicing her control of her magic. She didn’t know how much control a person could have, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to find out. Angelina checked to see if anyone was looking from her hiding place behind the tents, but everyone was too busy to pay her any heed. Spreading her hands out in front of her, the girl took a deep breath.

“Fi-“

“You there! What do you think you’re doing?”

Angelina jumped, hastily smoldering the spark of magic that had formed inside her. It was Chi-Fu, bustling her way with a sour expression. Had he seen what she was about to attempt?

The scribe stood up to his full height which, discounting the hat, only reached the girl’s chin. It certainly didn’t help that he was always leaning forward, as though he could better eavesdrop that way. “Just what are you doing here, girl? You don’t have time to slack off.”

Oh good, so that wasn’t it. “What are you talking about? I was just sitting-”

“Exactly!” Chi-Fu exclaimed. “Keep in mind that though Captain Shang is allowing you to stay here, he has put me in charge of keeping you out of trouble. The best way to do that is by putting you to work.”

Angelina’s spirits momentarily lifted. “So you mean-”

“You will go to the kitchens. The men need help with re-creating lunch and it has been so long since I’ve tasted a woman’s home cooking.” He smirked smugly, as though he was being clever.

The statement vividly reminded Angelina of something she would have heard from the sixties and she almost laughed. She knew she was being insulted, but the man was so far behind the times she honestly didn’t care what he said to her. “Alright, I think I can do that.”

“Good,” said Chi-Fu, returning to his other duties. “I look forward to it.”

Though he had left her with no directions, Angelina found the kitchen easily from the smell of savory cooking. A long row of four tents, each tall enough to safely stand in, was set up near one of the great walls. She tentatively poked her head in to see soldiers rushing about, preparing a meal that would soon be served to a couple hundred people. Angelina’s stomach growled, remembering how long it had been since she’d eaten. It made her wonder how Sora and the others were doing.

“Hey, what are you standing around for?”

“Huh?”

A particularly burly soldier had approached her, looking greatly overworked. He gestured to a long table, where other soldiers were busily chopping vegetables. “You’re the girl Chi-Fu sent, right? Get to chopping.”

“Oh, uh…chopping?” she stammered.

“Yes, chopping. Now hurry, we’ve got lots of warriors to feed.”

And just like that, he left her. She moved to the chopping table, much more slowly than the head chef would have liked, had he been watching. Angelina hadn’t thought much about cooking, just assuming it was a matter of following directions, but she had to admit that her chopping skills were woefully underdeveloped. Hesitantly, she picked up a carrot and a large knife. How hard could this possibly be?

It was maybe fifteen minutes later when the chef returned. He walked down the isle, inspecting their work with a glance. When he came upon Angelina’s work, he paused. “What is this?!”

“I’m sorry!”

All the vegetables Angelina had attempted to chop had turned out disastrously. Absolutely nothing came out evenly and she had made a complete mess of her station in the process. At this point, she was just thankful she hadn’t done anything as stupid as cut herself.

The big soldier looked at the mess with disgust. “These are completely unusable! And you took twice as much time as the men. I can’t serve this!”

“I’m sorry…” she repeated. Personally, she had thought the shape of the vegetables wouldn’t make a difference once it was in the stew, but that she couldn’t even do this right was truly pathetic.

It was then that Chi-Fu entered, taking a whiff of the tantalizing scents in the air. “Is lunch ready yet? The soldiers are getting restless.”

The military chef said, “Give it a few more minutes, we’ve had some unexpected delays.”

“Hmm…” Chi-Fu narrowed his eyes, immediately spotting out Angelina. “Is the girl giving you any trouble?”

The big man sighed, calmer than before. Almost kindly, he said, “Honestly, I was excited myself when I heard a girl would be working with us, but she just can’t cook.”

The scribe was not pleased with that. “Then she will work on the laundry after lunch. Surely she can’t mess that up.” And with that, he was gone again.

Angelina sighed miserably. “I guess I was the one who held up lunch?”

The man shook his head. “No, we have plenty enough. Actually, I doubt we’d hear any complaining if the stew had a few less vegetables.”

The gong rang for lunch the second time that day. As she was part of the lunch crew, Angelina was sent off with one of the first bowls. She spent the hour next to the wall, finding herself admiring the cut she could not achieve. Chi-Fu didn’t bother to find her when the gong rang again, so she wandered the fort until she spotted a group of soldiers, each carrying a bag of dirty clothes to the river.

The moment she arrived one of the soldiers handed her a large bag. She followed them to the riverside, where they each proceeded to hand-wash the clothes. Gingerly kneeling at the edge, Angelina carefully observed the work of the soldiers. They seemed to be using a liquid-based detergent while scrubbing vigorously on washboards into the river water. She was surprised, but glad that this world styled on ancient China had at least some form of soap.

Snapping out of her train of thought, Angelina fumbled with her own washboard and thrust her hand into the bag to wash the first garment her fingers could grab…which just so happened to be a very smelly loin cloth. Instinctively she let go, flinching in disgust, only to immediately regret it. The unwashed undergarment slipped into the water and was instantly taken up by a strong current. In a matter of moments, the spot of white grew far out of reach.

“Wait…” the girl started. She got up and started running after it. “Wait- no, stop!”

Soon she was running along side the loin cloth as it rapidly floated downriver, but it was too far out to catch it. Soldiers looked up as she passed in surprise, but did nothing to help. As Angelina ran, she couldn’t help thinking about whatever punishment Chi-Fu was bound to give her for this. That thought spiked her adrenaline, just in time to notice the bend in the river. Any objects floating through there slowed down, so it was her best shot.

_“I’ve got you now!”_

With that cry, the girl used every ounce of excess energy to jump into the rapids. She made it just in time to intersect the loin cloth, but the unseen boulders made for a very painful landing. Knocking elbows and getting the wind knocked out of her by the unexpectantly strong waves, Angelina only barely caught a glance of white before hooking her fingertips securely around the edge of the cloth.

Luckily (or perhaps not so much, considering the bruises she got), the waters were very shallow and she was able to stand up without a problem. Suddenly, Angelina realized that the weight of the cloth was off significantly…and moving. In fact, it was jerking around quite a bit! Before she could investigate for herself a large green fish flopped out, ripping the material loudly as it escaped its foul prison.

“Oh boy…” she muttered.

On the bank a group of soldiers gathered, and standing in front was Chi-Fu with a livid expression on his face. With a trembling hand, he pointed at her and shouted, “M-My underwear!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Angelina is banned from witchcraft and what is the first thing she decides to do? BURN THE PLACE TO THE GROUND. Not, uh, one of her proudest moments. In fact, she seems full of moments like that in this scene... I feel like I should express that all of her screw-ups here are not supposed to be any sort of feminist commentary, either positive or negative. It's just a fact that I REALLY suck at housework.
> 
> By the way, this is pretty much my reaction to sexism in real life when it's directed at me: to treat that person like they're obsolete. But if someone's sexist to anyone else or just people in general...that's a different story.
> 
> And what's this, COMEDY?? I'm...allowed to do that? Huh.


	30. Fragments of Sorrow (Part 5)

Angelina spent her remaining work hours sweeping the barracks, a task that Chi-fu claimed even a simpleton couldn’t possibly screw up. And, the girl had to admit reluctantly, this job was pretty foolproof. Even though she didn’t know how to hold the broom properly at first, it didn’t take too long to figure out. Still, it was a long and boring task.

As she swept, Angelina couldn’t help taking a few swings with the broom at empty air to lighten the mood. Idly she imagined a Nobody opponent in front of her and tried to make the movements of the broom match the strikes made in her mind. Of course, the slashes weren’t nearly as fast or cool as she would have liked them to be, and she couldn’t stop checking to see if anyone was watching out of embarrassment. But strangely, though she was no doubt making a complete fool of herself, Angelina found that the length and weight of the broom was oddly comfortable. In fact, it was almost as if the act of play fighting was made all the easier from its design.

The dinner gong sounded and Angelina looked up to see the sky dyed in the red hues of the setting sun. She walked back to the entrance on her way to return the broom when on the edge of the horizon five figures appeared. Squinting, the girl smiled as she recognized the group and dashed out of the encampment to greet them. As she closed the distance one of them, presumably Sora, waved in her direction and Angelina was surprised to realize just how lonely things were when they left.

“Man, today was rough!” Alex exclaimed, looking ready to collapse. “I never expected these missions to be so exhausting…and for there to be so many of them.”

Sora nodded wearily, though he didn’t seem to be nearly as wiped out as Alex did. “Yeah, that Captain Shang really knows how to work a- Hey, are you okay?”

“Huh?” Angelina wasn’t sure what he meant at first, but then she looked down at her arms and saw for herself. While her clothes had magically dried since her swim in the river, the bruises were still visible. Since they didn’t hurt, Angelina had completely forgotten they were there. “Oh, yeah, some things kind of happened… It’s cool, though.”

Donald grumbled, pulling out his staff. With a slight flourish, he directed his weapon at her arms and incanted, “Cure!”

Like- well, magic, the bruises lightened and healed, leaving no sign they were ever there. Though the duck had a bit of his usual scowl, Angelina could feel a warm kindness seep in to repair the damage.

“The magic garments can heal you guys over time in battle, but without the life energy that comes from destroying Heartless your wounds won’t heal. If left alone, even small injuries could become a much bigger problem, so make sure to take care of yourself.” Donald turned to the others with appraising eyes. “That goes for all of you.”

These words caught just about everyone off guard, except for perhaps Goofy who had known the duck the longest. Angelina could almost see the gears spinning in Alex’s head as he undoubtedly was taking this new tidbit of information to heart. The girl shied her eyes away from Donald in slight embarrassment, but was able to squeak out a quiet, “Thank you.”

Donald shrugged, clearly uncomfortable with making this into a big deal. “Yeah, well…just be careful.”

They neared the entrance, and it was at this point that Angelina noticed that Ping was looking rather dejected. “So…” she started, unsure how to approach this person, “how was it?”

“Oh, uh…” the warrior stuttered, only just realizing that the question had been directed at her. She seemed stressed, but tried to put on a brave face. “It was…good! Yeah, we really took care of those Heartless-things. …Though I must admit, I wish I could have been a little more, er, helpful.”

“You did great, Mulan!” Sora cheered. Ping must have revealed her real name to them during the mission, a name that she shared with the title of her Disney feature. “I’m sure that the captain will take notice of your skills. Speaking of which…”

The Keyblade wielder motions for Angelina to step aside and leads her a few paces away from the group. He whispered, “You remember that idea I mentioned earlier, right?”

Angelina, taken aback by the sudden need for secrecy, glanced side to side before replying, “Yeah, why?”

“Well, I plan to put it in motion tonight. Once everyone is asleep, meet me by the river.”

“Huh?”

“Hey!” Alex shouted back to them. “Hurry up, dinner’s almost over!”

“Remember, not a word to the others, okay?” Sora smirked, giving a conspiring wink. Then he took off after the group. “Save some for us, will ya!”

This left Angelina gazing after him dumbfounded. An uncontrolled laugh bubbled out of her as she muttered, “He’s taking this way too seriously…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS IT THIS IS THE LAST ONE for now. This was written...maybe a few years ago? A little sad, but even though I see improvement here and improvement in my work overall it's a little difficult to write at your best when what you've already written is holding you back. Oh well, I might just keep writing this for the hell of it (and a sense of completion?), so don't be too surprised if the quality remains more or less the same when I start up again.
> 
> We get to learn a bit more about Donald! Daaww, he really cares~ <3 I get the feeling Goofy knows more about Donald than Donald knows about Goofy. Also, the self-identified "useless" "females" (quoted separately because of Angel's iffy gender status) talk to one another for like a second. Progressive.
> 
> See y'all next time, time to move on to showing off more recent work!

**Author's Note:**

> Now this is some nostalgic shit right here. Believe it or not, this is a fanfic of a fanfiction of Kingdom Hearts II. The original fanfic this was inspired by was called The Interference, which was created by my best friend's older brother and it became mildly popular. So of course the first thing my fourteen-year-old self thought while reading it was to make a self-insert fic on it. *slow claps* Way to go, young me.
> 
> I wrote on this thing on-and-off for several years, and it's still my longest written work to date. And boy do the years show! It's especially jarring to read now, since back then I still hadn't come out as trans (or really knew what that even meant). Though I remedied that issue in a follow-up fic *cough cough*.
> 
> Another thing worth noting I guess: wow did young me not know how to cut a scene! But I can't really blame myself, since I was pretty much just cutting lines from the game script and writing description in-between each bit of dialogue. Hey, to be fair the original fic author did pretty much the exact same thing (and uh *cough* the original KH script wasn't very good to begin with *unconvincing cough*)!
> 
> So yeah, hope you're all ready for several hundred more scenes of a closeted trans boy tiptoeing around the plot! >:]


End file.
